Deontay Wilder believes inactivity hampered his performance against Joseph Parker.
Former heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder talks to Fight Hub TV about his thoughts on his loss to Joseph Parker, what went wrong, what he can improve going forward, and why he’s looking forward to putting on a better showing against Zhilei Zhang. Check out some excerpts of what Wilder had to say below.
Wilder on what went wrong in his loss to Joseph Parker
“I could say a lot of things but I don’t want to make excuses, because even when you’re truthful about certain things people say it’s excuses…One of the things that went wrong was the inactivity. I was out for two years, I didn’t even notice I was out that long because of certain things that I was doing. I just couldn’t pull the trigger when it was time, too. So a different time, a different moment.”
On how he went about correcting himself to go forward
“I became a gym rat again. I became a gym rat and then I found the love back, I found the fire back. I put more fuel to my fire and I’m re-lit now.”
On if his ayahuasca usage dulled his killer instinct
“The ayahuasca definitely made me more peaceful in life, looking at my outlook of life and things like that, but I don’t think it had nothing to do with me inside the ring. I think solely inactivity was the main factor, because if I was Joseph Parker and Joseph Parker was me, he wouldn’t have last 12 rounds with me.”
On what he sees in Zhilei Zhang
“I like that he brings power and he got a nice hook and different things like that. He looks very confident in what he does inside the ring and I think it’s going to bring an exciting fight come Saturday night.
“I don’t want people to think I’m just looking for one punch. I want to go in, I want to give a great fight. I want to come in, set him up with jabs, hooks, and then the big bang and knock Zhang out.”
On his reaction to Oleksandr Usyk beating Tyson Fury
“I was on the fence of the fight coming out. I didn’t know who was gonna win but being that he did win, congratulations to him. I think the referee took a knockout for him — you know, they always trying to save somebody. I’m not going to say who. But congratulations to Usyk and I wish him nothing but the best.”
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