Promoter Frank Warren of Queensberry believes former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder looked like a shot fighter in his last ring appearance.
Coming off a 14-month layoff, Wilder lost a twelve round unanimous decision to Joseph Parker as part of last month’s ‘Day of Reckoning’ card in Saudi Arabia.
Wilder’s timing was off, his balance was bad, and he never let his hands go until the final round of the fight.
Parker came away with lopsided dominant scores from all three judges.
“I did think at the end of the day, he looked like a shot fighter to me,” Warren told Talk Sport.
“That’s how he looked. And he’s come out with various reasons behind the scenes, which I’ve heard, but the proof has got to be in the pudding. If he comes back and has another fight, he certainly can’t have another performance like that because it will all be over.
“I think he’s got a big struggle to get himself back into it. If he decides he wants to do that, I think he’s got a big struggle because he certainly wasn’t at the races.”
The victory by Parker derailed a planned March mega-bout between Wilder and British star Anthony Joshua.
To get the Wilder-Joshua fight back on track, Warren feels that a statement making performance would have to come from Wilder in his next ring appearance.
“You can’t take away what Joseph Parker did. Joe boxed extremely well, with them overhand rights they were throwing. They got their tactics spot on and you’ve got to take your hat off to them,” Warren said.
“AJ-Wilder? To resurrect that there’s got to be some sort of outstanding performance from Wilder.”