December's huge "Day of Reckoning" card in Saudi Arabia produced plenty of headlines in its aftermath.
One of those was the heavyweight contest between Joseph Parker and Deontay Wilder. There was a lot of excitement in the build-up with this being Wilder's first fight in 14 months and the prospect of a mammoth showdown with Anthony Joshua if the American got the victory.
However, things could not have gone any worse for Wilder who was on the wrong end of an upset with Parker being declared the winner on all three judges' scorecards.
Whenever a fighter suffers a big loss, sometimes excuses are made and this time around, Wilder blamed over 20 hours of travelling to Riyadh had been the cause of his poor performance.
Parker was given the chance to respond recently in an interview with iFL TV and while he did have sympathy for Wilder, the New Zealander believes Wilder's team should have undergone better preparation when it came to travelling.
“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," Parker said.
“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 returns to action on March 8 when he faces Chinese heavyweight Zhilei Zhang on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou.
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