Wilder’s ‘Ayahuasca’ Usage Blamed For His Parker Loss – ‘Always An Excuse’
Deontay Wilder’s trainer, Malik Scott, has blamed the fighter’s use of ayahuasca as the reason for his poor performance in his last fight.
The Bronze Bomber took on Joseph Parker on the ‘Day of Reckoning’ card last December. Before the fight, he had signed a two-fight deal to face Anthony Joshua. This was dependent on both fighters winning their next bouts. Joshua stopped Otto Wallin, but Wilder came up short against Joseph Parker.
The American lost a one-sided unanimous decision win as he failed to trouble Parker. His main asset, his right hand, went missing for large parts of the fight. In his post-fight comments, Wilder admitted he had been using ayahuasca. Scott felt that was the reason why Wilder was not on point in that fight.
Scott On Wilder
“I think Deontay has a killer instinct that you can’t suppress, but I think he enjoyed ayahuasca. He said it made him a bit content and understand the smaller and softer things in life. Violence wasn’t a top priority that night and I think that’s why we came up short. Deontay is a killer, he’s violent – that Deontay didn’t show up that night. But that’s not the fighter you’re going to see in his next fight,” Scott said
Wilder made another excuse for his loss to Parker, stating the travel arrangements did not help. This created the narrative that Wilder has developed a reputation for making excuses for his poor performances. In the first Tyson Fury fight, Wilder accused the referee of not giving The Gypsy King a proper ten count.
Fury got up in the final round following a Wilder right hand. In their second fight, Wilder accused Fury of glove tampering. This included claims he had placed an egg-shaped object in his glove while also accusing his former coach, Mark Breland, of having had a part to play in spiking his water. Since neither of these claims were proven, Wilder also received backlash for his travel comments.
“It was a boring fight, nothing really happened. I went right back to training the next day. He really didn’t do nothing, they just went off the little flurries or whatever. In the training for that I had to travel two times, 20 hours of travelling. And those guys were already in Europe, they were only two or three hours away. I’m not complaining, I’m just saying what I had to go through,” Wilder said
Wilder’s Future
The heavyweight does have a chance to redeem himself. He is on course to face Zhilei Zhang on June 1 in the co-main event for Dmitry Bivol vs Artur Beterbiev. Reports indicate both fighters are close to finalizing an agreement. It is a huge fight since Zhang is also coming off a loss.
The Chinese also lost a decision against Joseph Parker. A victory for either fighter potentially puts them back in the conversation for the biggest fights and the chance to secure a title shot later down the line. Based on Scott’s comments, Wilder cannot afford to put on another poor performance.
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