Carl Froch has delivered a brutal verdict on Deontay Wilder after the big-punching former WBC heavyweight king suffered a shock loss to Joseph Parker in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
The 38-year-old Wilder dropped a one-sided unanimous decision after hardly throwing a punch in 12 rounds of action on that enormous ‘Day of Reckoning’ card. It was a costly defeat as it ruined plans for a long-awaited superfight vs Anthony Joshua back in Saudi Arabia on March 9.
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Former world super-middleweight king Froch was hugely disappointed by the Alabama man’s performance, while at the same time praising Parker for executing the perfect gameplan.
Carl Froch on Wilder vs Parker
Speaking on his ‘Froch on Fighting’ YouTube channel (watch the full video at the foot of this page), ‘The Cobra’ said: “There’s two things here. I don’t wanna take anything away from Joseph Parker’s performance because it was a great performance. He’s obviously been training well, he’s busy, he’s got Andy Lee in his corner, who gets a lot of praise for training him. He’s been training with [Tyson] Fury as well, a lot of sparring. Wilder has had, what is it, two years out of the ring and one round where he knocked out Helenius.
“First, I have to say Joseph Parker fought really well, he fought a great fight, he was busy and on the outside of Deontay Wilder, keeping him on his back foot and taking that momentum away from him, so Wilder wasn’t coming forward. He [Wilder] was sitting back, looking for the one potshot counter punch, and it was never going to come – he wasn’t busy enough.
“He barely threw any punches, Deontay Wilder, it was like what’s he waiting for, is he waiting for a big explosion, is he really going to go for it. It was either Parker was that good and didn’t give him the time to do it, or Deontay Wilder was really, really poor. He’s been out of the ring for two years and it’s a long time to be out of the ring, that inactivity. And he’s 38 years old so maybe he’s getting old, maybe he’s tiring, bit of ring rust.
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“I just want to say Parker did really really well, and give him all the credit in the world. He deserved the win, it was a conclusive win. I had it 118-111, one of the cards was 120-108 which I thought was a bit harsh on Wilder – I thought he nicked a couple of rounds.”
Froch went on to sum up Wilder’s night, and where the American goes from here. And it was not pretty.
What is next for Deontay Wilder?
“Joseph Parker did great, I thought Deontay Wilder was f***ing awful. It was a terrible terrible performance. Where does Deontay Wilder go from here now?
“Three fights with Tyson Fury, I feel that them fights have taken a lot out of Deontay Wilder. He got knocked down a few times, he got badly hurt, he got stopped against Tyson Fury. Them beatings, they can’t go unnoticed, they take the stamina bar down on a human being. Every single fight ages you, you leave a piece of you in that ring when you have a bad fight.
“I think Deontay Wilder’s about finished, he’s about done. His mind’s not in the right place. That performance was not the Deontay Wilder that I expect. This is now an old guy that’s lost a few times, twice off Fury and now he’s lost to Parker.”
