After Deontay Wilder revealed this week that the travel to Saudi Arabia played a factor in his loss to Joseph Parker, the New Zealand heavyweight has responded with his thoughts on the comments.
Parker caused an upset when he dominated Wilder on the Day of Reckoning card in Saudi Arabia in December, winning nearly every round on the scorecards.
Many fans were surprised by Wilder’s reluctance to throw his usual powerful hands, but the ‘Bronze Bomber’ spoke out this week and claimed that having to travel over 20 hours to Riyadh affected his performance in the fight.
Parker has now weighed in on the situation while speaking to IFL TV, and while he sympathises with Wilder somewhat, he feels the team should have taken the journey into account and had better preparation.
“Every fighter has to go through different things in camp. Before the Whyte camp, we locked in the fight then I flew 17 hours to Dubai, a three hour wait, then eight hours to Ireland to start my training camp.
“I was jet-lagged for a week, it’s what a fighter goes through, good or not it is what it is. It’s all part of trying to prepare for a fight. I’m not sure where he’s coming from, he did travel back and forth, we had to do the promotion, there was a lot of time travelling.
“When I travelled to Saudi for the fight, jet lag is a real thing, but as a professional fighter and the team around you you have to make the right decision about when you have to be there and allow yourself the time to adjust and get used to the time zone and wherever you’re fighting.”
Parker will look to build on his victory when he returns on the Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou card on Friday 8 March, taking on Zhilei Zhang for the WBO interim heavyweight title.