Carl Froch believes Deontay Wilder’s ‘awful’ showing against a resurgent Joseph Parker spells bad news for his future in the sport.
Wilder entered the ring a heavy favourite, but looked off balance and struggled to find either range or accuracy against a dialed-in Parker.
Froch began his analysis on his YouTube channel by praising Parker, who boxed to a game-plan set by Andy Lee and never shied away from taking his opportunities to hurt Wilder.
“Joseph Parker did great. I thought Deontay Wilder was f***ing awful … It was a terrible performance. Where does Deontay Wilder go from here now? … It was the worst performance I’ve seen from Deontay Wilder in a long time, but it might’ve been because Joseph Parker was that good.”
As for the 38-year-old hard-hitting American, Froch advises him to ‘finish.’
“I feel that those [Fury] fights have taken a lot out of Deontay Wilder. He got knocked down a few times, badly hurt, stopped. Those beatings, they can’t go unnoticed. They take the stamina bar down. Every single fight ages you. You leave a piece of you in that ring every time you have a bad fight.
I’m sorry, I think he’s about finished. I don’t think his mind’s in the right place, I think that performance was not the Deontay Wilder that I expect. This is now an old guy who’s been beaten a few times now. Twice off Fury and now Parker. And Parker, we know his levels. He’s lost to Whyte, he’s lost to AJ. This is a guy that’s not really performing at world level. I’m not saying he can’t – he might be back. Parker is back, done really well.
I think Deontay Wilder’s finished. I don’t want to take the shine off Parker by playing down Deontay Wilder, cause that was a great performance … but I think Deontay Wilder needs to just finish.”
Wilder himself said on social media post-fight that he would be back.