Joseph Parker stunned Deontay Wilder in a heavyweight upset, winning a unanimous decision after 12 rounds in Riyadh.
Both Wilder and Parker were former heavyweight champions, Parker once the holder of the WBO belt and Wilder a dominant WBC titlist until he lost the belt to Tyson Fury.
But Wilder is one of the most fearsome punchers in the sport and was expecting to set up a showdown with Anthony Joshua with a tune-up win over Parker.
However, the New Zealander wrecked all of those plans with a stunning unanimous decision win, taking it 118-111, 118-110 and 120-108 on the judges’ cards.
Wilder was patient through far too much of the contest. This was his first bout of the year and he only had one round of action in 2022, when he knocked out Robert Helenius. The 38-year-old was surely cautious of ring rust.
“Dangerous fight, a tough fight but we trained very hard for this. People had other plans, but this is God’s plan,” Parker declared.
“Today we got the win and Merry Christmas to us!
“Deontay’s got a new coach and maybe he’s applying the new things he’s working on, but maybe inactivity played a part.”
Deontay Wilder claimed post-fight that he did enough to earn the victory over Parker, a surprising view.
“I did [think he did enough to win] but my timing was off a little bit,” he said.
“He [Parker] did a great job in avoiding a lot of my punches. We make no excuses, it was a good fight and we move onto the next thing.”
