11-12-2023, 10:29 AM
Parker set for huge fight against Wilder in Saudi Arabia
By Patrick McKendry, Digital Sport Reporter
New Zealand heavyweight Joseph Parker may be close to signing off on a fight with Deontay Wilder, one of the most feared punchers in the world, in a clash in Saudi Arabia before Christmas.
1News understands that terms have been agreed on a showdown in Riyadh on December 23, the fight one of several high-profile clashes on a card which will also feature former heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua, who relieved Parker of his WBO title in 2018.
If, and when, the Parker v Wilder fight is officially agreed, it will be comfortably the biggest fight the 31-year-old Parker has been in since that points defeat to Joshua on a cold March night in Cardiff five years ago.
Wilder has fought 46 times as a professional and, of his 43 victories, 42 have come via knockouts. An occasionally outspoken individual, he has talked about being happy to kill an opponent during a fight. "I want a body on my record," he said in an interview five years ago.
Wilder's only setbacks have come at the hands of Parker’s good friend Tyson Fury – two defeats and one draw in a memorable trilogy which installed Fury as the WBC world champion.
Parker has a 33-3 professional record and his last fight – a third-round knockout win against Canadian Simon Kean was in Riyadh last month on the undercard of Fury’s points victory over Francis Ngannou.
Parker looked good in outclassing Kean, his decisive blow coming from an excellent right-hand uppercut, but he will have to be at his best to survive the lethal right hand possessed by Wilder, a 38-year-old American known as the “Bronze Bomber†who stands 2.01m tall.
However, there will be confidence in Parker’s camp that he will have the footwork, hand speed, combinations and chin to trouble Wilder, who hasn’t fought since stopping Robert Helenius in the first round in Brooklyn more than 12 months ago.
After Parker’s victory over Kean there was talk from the Kiwi that he would be happy to fight Ngannou, an MMA fighter who put up an excellent showing against Fury in the main event in Riyadh in what was his first professional boxing fight.
However, Ngannou is likely to wait for a lucrative re-match with Fury, who is in line to face WBA, WBO and IBF world champion Oleksandr Usyk in a fight in January or February which will decide the undisputed world heavyweight champion.
There hasn’t been an undisputed champion in the fractured heavyweight scene since Lennox Lewis in 1999.
For Parker, who suffered his first stoppage defeat at the hands of Joe Joyce in Manchester in September last year, there are plenty of risks attached to getting into the ring with the notorious Wilder, but he will likely find the rewards of a big payday and increased profile too difficult to turn down.
Former foe Joshua, the Englishman who lost his world titles to Usyk, is in line to fight Swede Otto Wallin.
Undefeated Russian light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol is also set to fight on the card.
By Patrick McKendry, Digital Sport Reporter
New Zealand heavyweight Joseph Parker may be close to signing off on a fight with Deontay Wilder, one of the most feared punchers in the world, in a clash in Saudi Arabia before Christmas.
1News understands that terms have been agreed on a showdown in Riyadh on December 23, the fight one of several high-profile clashes on a card which will also feature former heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua, who relieved Parker of his WBO title in 2018.
If, and when, the Parker v Wilder fight is officially agreed, it will be comfortably the biggest fight the 31-year-old Parker has been in since that points defeat to Joshua on a cold March night in Cardiff five years ago.
Wilder has fought 46 times as a professional and, of his 43 victories, 42 have come via knockouts. An occasionally outspoken individual, he has talked about being happy to kill an opponent during a fight. "I want a body on my record," he said in an interview five years ago.
Wilder's only setbacks have come at the hands of Parker’s good friend Tyson Fury – two defeats and one draw in a memorable trilogy which installed Fury as the WBC world champion.
Parker has a 33-3 professional record and his last fight – a third-round knockout win against Canadian Simon Kean was in Riyadh last month on the undercard of Fury’s points victory over Francis Ngannou.
Parker looked good in outclassing Kean, his decisive blow coming from an excellent right-hand uppercut, but he will have to be at his best to survive the lethal right hand possessed by Wilder, a 38-year-old American known as the “Bronze Bomber†who stands 2.01m tall.
However, there will be confidence in Parker’s camp that he will have the footwork, hand speed, combinations and chin to trouble Wilder, who hasn’t fought since stopping Robert Helenius in the first round in Brooklyn more than 12 months ago.
After Parker’s victory over Kean there was talk from the Kiwi that he would be happy to fight Ngannou, an MMA fighter who put up an excellent showing against Fury in the main event in Riyadh in what was his first professional boxing fight.
However, Ngannou is likely to wait for a lucrative re-match with Fury, who is in line to face WBA, WBO and IBF world champion Oleksandr Usyk in a fight in January or February which will decide the undisputed world heavyweight champion.
There hasn’t been an undisputed champion in the fractured heavyweight scene since Lennox Lewis in 1999.
For Parker, who suffered his first stoppage defeat at the hands of Joe Joyce in Manchester in September last year, there are plenty of risks attached to getting into the ring with the notorious Wilder, but he will likely find the rewards of a big payday and increased profile too difficult to turn down.
Former foe Joshua, the Englishman who lost his world titles to Usyk, is in line to fight Swede Otto Wallin.
Undefeated Russian light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol is also set to fight on the card.