At half past six in the morning on December 24, Beijing time, a high-profile war of the century that ended in Saudi Arabia attracted global attention, and the result surprised everyone.
Pre-bout favourites former WBC champion De Wilde failed to achieve the feat he promised to defeat his opponent in four rounds before the fight, and ended up losing by a big score.
New Zealand's Joseph Parker was in complete control for the full 12 rounds and caused a big upset.
Although Wilder was full of confidence before the fight and threatened to knock out Parker in the 3-4 rounds, Parker was not swayed by the outside influence and showed great composure.
He skillfully executed his pre-match tactics, avoiding head-to-head battles with Wilder and instead using his skill and pace to cleverly accumulate the scoreline.
In contrast, Wild himself is technically rough and relies on strength to win.
Coupled with the fact that there have been fewer games in recent years, his form has long been not as good as before.
He was passive throughout the game and ended up losing with a disparity of -110.
Wild should seriously think about his career.
He has already made enough money to fight again and will only reap the consequences.
It's likely that they'll lose back-to-back fighters at a lower level than Parker.
After all, he is 38 years old, and it will be difficult to regain his form.
At the same time, his initial showdown with Anthony Joshua on March 9 next year has also come to naught.
As a result, Chinese fighter Zhang Zhilei's heavyweight status has been further improved.
After all, he has a WBO heavyweight transitional belt in his hands.
Wilder had previously looked down on Zhang Zhilei and even released pigeons on him.
But now, if Wild wants to fight Zhang Zhilei again, it depends on whether Zhang Zhilei is in the mood.
If Wild had won against Zhang's team after the match, Zhang Zhilei might consider playing against him, which would not only increase Zhang's popularity, but also make him a lot of money.
As for who Zhang Zhilei will fight against next, we will wait and see.