Wilder’s Disappointing Comeback: Time To Consider Booting Malik Scott?
There is a doubt among fans and experts about the abilities of Deontay Wilder’s coach as he returns after a long break. The fight held at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, against Joseph Parker took a turn for the worse, according to audience expectations, as Wilder lost to Joseph, who is considered an average-level fighter.
Malik Scott was heavily criticized by the critics for his below-average game plan. In the fight, Wilder was consistently low on offensive output and gave up because of his continuous movement without any productive outcome. The strategies to beat Parker have been adopted by fighters like Dillian Whyte and Joe Joyce, especially with intense power shots.
After the boxing match, Malik Scott’s views sparked a new debate among the audience. He expressed his disappointment that Parker was kept as the opponent, as he believed a different technique would have been more beneficial.
The fans were very intense right away. Malik Scott’s training methods have been called off by many people, who claim that he has failed to provide Wilder with the skill set needed to fight an opponent like Parker. The public had a view that Wilder’s performance was not up to par because of Malik’s game strategy.
Additionally, Malik said that despite improvements, if Wilder didn’t win, critics would still criticise him. Despite Malik being accountable for the game strategy that led to Wilder’s loss, there was a shared belief that he was refusing to take responsibility.
Controversy arises over who Parker has chosen as the return contender for Wilder. Despite Wilder taking time off, his management should have identified Parker as the wrong stylistic matchup. Joe Joyce has proven himself as a tough fighter who can sustain big hits and make his way to victory.
Malik Scatt made his point clear by justifying that there are way greater risks with facing Parker after a 14-month layoff. He didn’t mention anything about the shortcomings of Wilder’s strategy; he would possibly miss out on the areas needing improvement, and thus he wasn’t very honest with him. It was argued that Wilder had not gone through a full eight- to ten-week training camp, which is required in order to compete against an opponent of Parker’s calibre.
Malik Scott believes that there are multiple reasons, including inactivity, age issues, and doubt. People have doubts about whether Wilder has made enough preparations for the fight to make a comeback. Despite the overall mood, critics believe that he had very limited time to train.
Moreover, his unexpected approach of focusing more on defense strategies was also critiqued by Zhang as well as Dirrel. Dirrell has critiqued that Wilder could not handle these situations tactically and should change his stance whenever it’s needed.
Malik Scott’s post-fight stance led him to face extreme criticism. A game planner is responsible for the outcome, so a trainer must oversee it. Malik Scott, who is the captain of the ship here, was not ready to go down. That’s why there were more requests for Wilder to rethink his team.
The fight ending in a draw unexpectedly has led us to question the efficiency of Malik Scott as Deontay Wilder’s coach. Most of the criticism is based on choosing Joseph Parker as an opponent and some tactics he missed during the game. It is still unclear whether Malik Scott will get any repercussions from the match, but his recent controversial coaching choices have initiated a debate around how coaches handle their players.