Deontay Wilder is facing calls to retire after his second loss in a row, this time a stoppage at the hands of Zhilei Zhang.
Following a points defeat to Joseph Parker in which the former WBC Champion didn’t look at the races, the fight against Zhang was a potential lifeline for his career. The performance instead further cemented the opinion that Wilder simply isn’t what he used to be in the ring.
Trainer and former opponent Malik Scott spoke to ES News about the loss, expressing his disappointment that the shot that ended it all was something they had drilled in training camp.
“Sometimes just the way the chips fall in boxing. If you have a great night, then everything you done prior to was all the correct s**t. If you have a bad night, here they come.
If you ask me the toughest thing about that loss, I never wanted something for somebody more in my life than I wanted that particular win for Deontay. I would take him getting that win over any win in his career, cause we had an incredible training camp … What’s most disappointing to me is the exact shot we got knocked out with is the exact shot I drilled Deontay on not to get hit with.
Not only did we not get the victory, it didn’t go nowhere near our way. Things just became real bad. It was just one of those things man.”
“We’ll see man. Right now he’s resting, doing good. Obviously there’s some tough times going on right now but as you all know I’m old school, I’m corny, I ride with the ones that ride with me and ride for me. Deontay is my brother. I’m gonna stick with him through thick and thin. We win together and we lose together, and that’s just what it is …
… We’re going through some stuff now, legal issues with Deontay, it’s no secret what’s in the news.”
Whilst Zhang moves ahead to another big fight, Wilder’s future in the heavyweight division looks all but done, certainly at the top level.
