Deontay Wilder has created a storm out of the ring after he recently claimed to have fought with a broken arm against Joseph Parker during last year’s “Day of Reckoning” event held in December. Wilder notably suffered a widespread unanimous decision (UD) loss to Parker while going into the match as a sharp favorite.
American former WBC heavyweight (200+ lbs) champion Deontay Wilder (43-4-1, 42 KO’s) competed twice on Riyadh Season cards―both in Saudi Arabia, first losing to New Zealand WBO interim champion Joseph Parker (35-3, 25 KO’s) in December of 2023 only to suffer a painful 5th round stoppage loss on June 1st to Chinese heavyweight Zhilei Zhang (27-2-1, 22 KO’s).
Despite Parker pulling out one of his most impressive career wins after defeating Wilder, Wilder claims to have been broken one of his arms prior to facing Parker―apparently without noticing he even had an injury.
“I broke my arm way back in November sometime and didn’t know,” Wilder told a reporter from TMZSports. “I mean, I had two tears on my shoulder and stuff like that.
“I thought [during times of] me stretching it out I could feel the pain but I just thought it was old injuries and stuff, so I never went to get it checked out.
“I just thought I could go to my therapist, get some things stretched―get some cold needling in, stuff like that, but come to find out my very last one. And that’s [why], when I went,[and] got the MRI [scan], it was like everything was f***** up and I didn’t know because I got a high tolerance in pain.”
Wilder did appear to correct himself after claiming he had a broken arm by mentioning he had “two tears” on his shoulder, but the plausibility of him having suffered from an injury prior to facing Joseph Parker still remains highly contentious.
The easiest manner in which Wilder could prove as such is by producing the MRI scans he underwent and the date on which they were performed. Medical professionals can then deduce the veracity of his claims by calculating the amount of time he could have realistically been dealing with such an injury.
There is a possibility Wilder suffered an injury prior to facing Parker as the American heavyweight had notoriously neglected to throw as many punches as he is normally capable of. Presuming Wilder meant his right arm, it provides a reasonable explanation on why Wilder barely threw his right arm during the fight against Parker―and further explains his tentativeness during the fight, which had been attributed to inactivity rather than injury.
However, this is not the first time Deontay Wilder has made claims that after more thorough scrutinizing seems to be more of an excuse. Infamously so, Wilder accused former trainer Mark Breland of conspiring against him by spiking his water, leading to Wilder’s stoppage loss to Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KO’s) in 2020. Breland would be fired several months after Wilder’s defeat.
Breland, a respected figure in boxing due to his achievements as an amateur and professional, had thrown in the towel during the second Fury-Wilder fight after Deontay Wilder suffered several debilitating knockdowns, culminating in a technical knockout (TKO) win for Fury.
Prior to Wilder’s second loss to Tyson Fury in their trilogy fight, Breland would respond to the allegations made by Wilder of having poisoned him:
“So many people know me. My character speaks for itself, a lot of people know me,” Breland responded on Stamina For Sale’s boxing media platform.
“If you looking at the [water] tanks or whatever, you’ll never see the water in my hands, basically,” Mark Breland would continue to state. “I’m not there to [mess around[. I’m there to help.“
Wilder’s latest claims also appear to contradict other claims he made prior to facing Parker when he blamed jetlag on his lackluster performance against Parker, and the use of the psychedelic drugs of Ayahuasca had also been constructed as a explanation for his loss to Parker by trainer Malik Scott.
Additionally, Deontay Wilder also blamed his inactivity for his performance, making his latest broken or injured arm claim the fourth assertion he has made to explain his 2023 loss to Joseph Parker.
