Key events
Round 4
The tension finally breaks early in the fourth when Parker bursts into the pocket and a firefight breaks out along the ropes with both guys trading shots upstairs. With about 20 seconds left, Parker rushes in again and lands and one-two combination to Wilder’s head and escapes unscathed. What a start from Parker, who’s been the aggressor and leads four rounds to none on our card. But Wilder nothing if not always dangerous.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Wilder 9-10 Parker (Wilder 36-40 Parker)
Round 3
Wilder continues to be hesitant and gunshy in the early stages, wary of Parker’s feints. A nice uppercut by Wilder connects but Parker takes it well. Another low-output round from both sides with Parker scoring just more enough to shade it.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Wilder 9-10 Parker (Wilder 27-30 Parker)
Round 2
Another very quiet feeling-out round. Parker doing very little. Wilder doing even less.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Wilder 9-10 Parker (Wilder 18-20 Parker)
Round 1
The bell rings and the fighters come together. Parker is holding the center of the ring as Wilder circles him, already looking to set up that weapons-grade right hand. Lots of feeling out on both sides. Parker lands the first consequential blow of the night, a crisp right hand upstairs, with about 30 seconds left in the frame. Wilder didn’t land a single punch in the opening three minutes, effectively conceding the round as he works off the rust. Parker landed two of six shots, per Compubox’s punch statistics, compared to zero of eight for Wilder.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Wilder 9-10 Parker (Wilder 9-10 Parker)
Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker are making their entrances at Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena. First it’s Parker, who beat Andy Ruiz for the vacant WBO heavyweight title in 2016 and defended it twice before losing it to Anthony Joshua by 12-round unanimous decision in 2018. The New Zealand giant appears to take a wrong turn on his way to the ring, but he’s back on course now. Now it’s Wilder making his entrance wearing a black sequined robe with gold trim and oversized matching crown. The Alabama slugger looks all business. Both men are in the ring and Michael Buffer is already into his introductions. We should be under way very shortly.
Bivol defeats Arthur by UD 12
Dmitry Bivol has won a unanimous decision over Lyndon Arthur to successfully defend his WBA light heavyweight title. All three ringside judges handed down 120-107 scorecards, as did the Guardian.
Bivol did manage to drop his British foe with a body shot late in the 11th round, but Arthur made it to the bell and survived an onslaught in the 12th to avoid the stoppage.
“I would say it was good sparrring for me,” Bivol says afterward. “He was in good shape. I’m glad that at the end of the year I got this fight and now I see my way to my goal.”
That goal? To unify the fractured light heavyweight title and be declared the undisputed champion at 175lbs. The other three belts are held by Artur Beterbiev, who is a hot favorite against Callum Smith on 13 January in Quebec City.
Beterbiev v Bivol might not be a marquee matchup for more casual fans, but it is one of the best fights that can be made in the sport today.
“I hope this fight will happen in 2024,” Bivol says.
Dmitry Bivol is in complete control halfway through the scheduled 12 rounds of his WBA light heavyweight title defense against Manchester’s Lyndon Arthur. He’s winning six rounds to none on the Guardian’s unofficial card.
Once this fight is finished, the final countdown to Deontay Wilder v Joseph Parker begins.
Caption this. Men about town and original mad lads Conor McGregor and Cristiano Ronaldo have taken their seats at ringside ahead of tonight’s action.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena for today’s eagerly awaited heavyweight twin bill. Less than two months before Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will meet in Saudi Arabia to decide the division’s first undisputed champion since 1999, the former champions Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua are here to keep their names in the mix in boxing’s glamour weight class.
The 38-year-old Wilder, who held the WBC’s version of the heavyweight title from 2015 through 2020, has fought only twice since he was dethroned by Fury in the second chapter of their famous trilogy. But plenty of big-money fights await should he win today against Joseph Parker, the New Zealand native who held the WBO title from 2016 through 2018.
Then there’s Joshua, the 34-year-old former WBA, IBF and WBO champion, who fights the New York-based Swedish journeyman Otto Wallin in the main event. He’s built back incrementally from the consecutive defeats to Usyk that left his career at a crossroads, getting over the line in workmanlike fashion against Jermaine Franklin and Robert Helenius, but Wallin expects to offer a stiffer test.
Should Wilder and Joshua both get through, a long-awaited (and long-overdue) showdown between the pair is likely to follow. But things are never as straightforward as they appear in the red-light district of professional sport, so let’s just get through the next few hours and see where we’re at.
The first of tonight’s televised pay-per-view preliminaries is in the books with Daniel Dubois having stopped Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller in the closing seconds of a 10-round heavyweight contest to hand the American the first defeat of his career. The second is about to start as Dmitry Bivol is making his entrance before defending his WBA light heavyweight title against Lyndon Arthur.
After Bivol v Arthur concludes, it will be time for Deontay Wilder v Joseph Parker followed by Anthony Joshua v Otto Wallin. Plenty more to come between now and then.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Donald McRae’s lookahead to Saturday’s card.