Deontay Wilder still wants to face Anthony Joshua in his next fight, but he believes AJ will use his loss to Joseph Parker last Saturday as an excuse to swerve him for March 9th.
Wilder still believes the fight with Joshua will happen, but the Saudis will need to intervene because, without them, AJ will go in another direction towards a possible fight against Filip Hrgovic.
That’s the one his promoter, Eddie Hearn, has been talking about since the post-fight press conference last Saturday night.
Deontay’s interpretation
Wilder says Joshua looked ecstatic with joy after his loss to Parker. When Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) came out for his fight against Otto Wallin for the main event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he had big smile smile on his face.
Deontay read that to mean that AJ felt like he no longer had to worry about fighting him. Wilder stays he heard that Joshua would have retired if he’d won his fight with Parker, because he wanted no part of fighting him. That’s how scared Joshua is of fighting him.
Joshua looked so happy during his ring walk for his fight with journeyman Wallin, as if he’d gotten the Christmas present that he’d been hoping for.
“I finally got a country that backs me. In Saudi Arabia, they love me over there,” said Deontay Wilder to 78Sportstv. “His Excellency said, ‘Wilder, you’ve changed. You used to talk about killing. We want that Wilder.’
“They really don’t want that fight. When I lost, did you see how happy he was coming out? I broke out laughing, I said, ‘That guy is happy,’ I made him able to perform like that,” said Deontay about Anthony Joshua being happy that he lost to Parker because he was off the hook.
“He was like, ‘I ain’t got to fight Wilder.’ The rumor was he was talking about retiring if I won. March 9th, the fight still can go on. But this is a perfect way for them to get out,” said Deontay about his belief that Joshua would use his defeat to Parker as an excuse to weasel out of the fight against him.
“I’m so heartbroken about my performance because I know it was lackluster. We had a hell of a training camp. I felt so amazing. I don’t know what happened.
That killer didn’t come out when it was supposed to, and that’s something I have to put back together, and I will because he [Parker] had no business beating me. Not even on a magnificent day for him.
“Look at how many fights he’s had. He’s been very active, but he didn’t do nothing,” said Wilder about Parker, who has largely been fighting poor lower-level opposition through the last five years, except for his fight with Joe Joyce last year, which he lost.
“The fight was okay, but neither one of really did anything. He caught me in a dazing moment. I kind of zoned out, and he caught me [on the eighth round]. It wasn’t that I was hurt. None of his punches phased me. I smiled going back to my corner, but things like this shouldn’t happen.
“I will regain myself and get back to that point, and when I do, I’m going to be vicious, my powerful than ever. Yeah, for sure. I’ll be back out there soon,” said Wilder when asked if the Saudis want him back out fighting. “They love boxing. Their attitude is win, lose or draw, ‘We want you to continue to come.
“They want that stuff there [Saudi Arabia]. They love that stuff there, but over here, I’m thrown stones at. I’m just glad to be part of the Saudi family, part of the royal family over there, and they accept me for who I am,” said Wilder.
