The Real Winners and Losers from the Day of Reckoning Boxing Card

If you like your fight cards large, this was a day for you.

It was billed as the "Day of Reckoning," in fact, and included eight fights—six at heavyweight and two others within a reasonable reach—topped off by former champions Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder in separate bouts.

Light heavyweight kingpin Dmitry Bivol, best known for his upset defeat of Canelo Alvarez in the spring of 2022, defended his 175-pound status as well, while the remaining bouts included fighters campaigning to be on his, or Joshua's or Wilder's recognition level.

The four bouts on the preliminary card went 13 rounds and yielded four TKOs and the first and final bouts on the main card ended early, with only the sixth and seventh fights going the distance.

The B/R combat team was in place to take it all in and deliver a real-time list of the event's definitive winners and losers. Take a look at what we came up with as the show moves along and drop a thought of your own in the comments section.

Well, so much for super fights.

The long-discussed and supposedly imminent duel between Wilder and Joshua was doused in cold water in the desert show's co-main event when the big-swinging American was outworked and out-powered by prohibitive underdog Joseph Parker for nearly every minute of their 12-rounder.

A former WBO title claimant who made two defenses before losing to Joshua in 2018, Parker won most rounds with superior work rate and was the one who nearly scored a finish when he tagged Wilder with an overhand right and had him grabbing for dear life late in the eighth.

Wilder weathered the storm and survived the round and began winging shots in a desperate 12th-round rally but never had Parker in real danger, and instead saw the New Zealander's hand raised thanks to scorecards of 118-111 (9-2-1), 118-110 (10-2) and 120-108 (12-0).

The B/R card gave Parker nine of 12 rounds and scored it 117-111.

It was just the third time Wilder has heard a final bell in a 47-fight career.

"It was a dangerous fight, a tough fight, but we trained hard for this," Parker said.

"Everyone had other plans, but this was God's plan. Our plan was to stay calm, stay relaxed, stay focused and stay switched on for every round. Merry Christmas to us."

As for Wilder, though he irrationally suggested he'd done enough to win and cited inactivity and timing as in-fight issues, it sounded like retirement might be more likely than Joshua going forward unless finances dictate.

"We'll see what happens. We have a little bit more left," he said. "But I've done a good job managing my money. I'm a warrior and we did what we did. We move on to the next. But if not it's been an enjoyment and a pleasure."

For what it's now worth anyway, Joshua did hold up his end.

Though he arrived to fight week as a lesser favorite than Wilder had been, the powerful Brit was in control from the jump and never relented on the way to a TKO stoppage of Otto Wallin.

The once-beaten Swede, whose lone loss had been to Tyson Fury, retired on his stool after taking a particularly one-sided battering in the fifth round.

It was Joshua's third straight win and second straight finish since losing two straight fights against Oleksandr Usyk, but probably his best performance against a world-class opponent since a ninth-round stoppage of Kubrat Pulev at Wembley Stadium three years ago.

"He's back," promoter Eddie Hearn said. "I believe that this Anthony Joshua is the best heavyweight in the world. Otto Wallin is an excellent heavyweight, and he broke him down. It was just a stunning performance. In this mindset with this team, he's unbeatable."

With the Wilder fight seemingly dead in the water, Hearn said Joshua's target in 2024 will be a third heavyweight title reign. He was ranked third by the IBF behind Wallin and Filip Hrgovic, who won elsewhere on the card and is the organization's mandatory challenger.

So, if Fury and Usyk opt for a rematch after their initial meeting in February, it could be Hrgovic and Joshua for a vacated IBF title later in the year.

"It's gonna be Hrgovic against AJ for the world title," Hearn said. "It's good to see him smiling. He's a dangerous, dangerous man when he's in that kind of mood."

These are perilous pound-for-pound times for Bivol.

Though his reign as the WBA's full-fledged champion at 175 pounds has passed four years and he was in zero competitive danger against challenger Lyndon Arthur, there's a bigger picture concern.

He worked his way onto nearly every respected P4P list with a defeat of Alvarez in May 2022, but it's by no means a guarantee he stays there ahead of other would-be listees if he continues to stack clear-cut and unanimous, but frequently tedious and fan unfriendly decisions in title defenses.

"Of course, they want to be fan friendly," ex-HBO mic man Jim Lampley told Bleacher Report. "But a fighter with Bivol's classical training is always calculating risk and adjusting accordingly."

The Arthur fight appeared a novelty early on as the Kyrgyzstan-born, California-based star worked off the front foot and landed stinging power shots, but his British foe refused to yield as the rounds mounted and Bivol seemed to step off the gas when opportunities presented themselves.

He got a knockdown with a hook to the body late in the 11th round and landed a flurry of heavy shots early in the 12th but didn't get the finish, thus extending a non-KO streak to nine since a final-round stoppage of Sullivan Barrera in 2018.

Bivol was 13-0 with 11 KOs after that victory at Madison Square Garden.

"This was a very Dmitry Bivol fight," analyst Chris Mannix said. "It is in a lot of ways a carbon copy of fights we've seen him in for the last five or six years. Early in his career he was a destroyer but in the last several fights he's a different fighter."

Daniel Dubois may never be a real heavyweight champion.

But he passed a real heavyweight test, with an emphasis on heavy, in beating Jarell Miller.

Though he's 6'5" with a 78-inch reach and typically carries himself as a "Dynamite" puncher, Dubois changed tacks and leaned more on boxing chops before violence while working circles around a 333-pound foe.

It was precisely what was needed to handle Miller, who plodded forward for nearly every minute of nine rounds and tried to land sweeping shots while leaning his frame on his 233.5-pound opponent.

It was also a respectable comeback for the 26-year-old, who was stopped in nine rounds by Usyk in his most recent fight and had to hear jeers from Miller during fight week that he'd quit.

"I'm a prideful fighter and I always want to come forward. It was learning new things for me," Dubois said. "I had my dad screaming in my corner and I knew I had to get out there and work. I had to show it to myself really. I silenced all the doubters tonight."

Indeed, it was Dubois on the gas in the late going and landing enough punishing shots to Miller's head to prompt an intervention from referee Michael Alexander at 2:52 of the 10th.

"There were worrying signs early, but he adjusted his game," analyst Darren Barker said.

"The spins, the little skips to the left to avoid the shots. It was perfect. That was an epic performance. He outworked him. He outsmarted him. He outwilled him."

Arslanbek Makhmudov had the bully thing down.

He talked tough. He walked tough. He stared tough.

But once Agit Kabayel started punching back, the facade quickly changed.

The smaller, lighter and presumed less powerful man used movement, hand speed and clever work to the body and head to methodically beat his bigger foe into submission inside of four rounds.

"Makhmudov was the lion, but Kabayel was the lion tamer tonight," analyst and ex-154-pound champ Sergio Mora said. "He was the smarter fighter. He systematically broke down a big man just like you're supposed to beat a big man. The grimace on his face told the story."

Indeed, the 31-year-old German avoided or survived the big man's big punches in the first two rounds before hurting him to the body and shaking his confidence by the third.

A body shot led to a knockdown about a minute into the round and another saw Makhmudov on his knees about 40 seconds later. Kabayel swarmed with another flurry once his opponent rose again and another combination to the belly prompted an intervention from referee Steve Gray as Makhmudov sagged in surrender at 2:03.

It was his first loss after 18 wins and 17 KOs, while Kabayel moved to 24-0 and finished his 16th foe and presumably earned the top-10 rankings Makhmudov had with the WBC (3), WBA (4) and IBF (7).

"I shocked the world maybe, no?" Kabayel said. "If you talked to 10 guys, nine guys said I wouldn't win. But my movement was the game plan. The body shots. Then coming up to the head. I saw it on his face. He was not there."

You want menace? Jai Opetaia's got it.

The 28-year-old is already a known commodity among the hard-core fight types, but he made a powerful claim for a bigger reputational footprint with a one-shot finish of Ellis Zorro.

Even at a pristine 17-0 coming in, the European cruiserweight title claimant seemed vastly outgunned, and it was made competitively apparent when a single left hand from Opetaia rendered him cross-eyed and stiff-legged with just four seconds remaining in the opening round.

The winner stood imposingly as his foe tumbled backward to the floor with his head hung awkwardly over the bottom rope and his glazed eyes gazing unfocused toward the ceiling, then turned and walked to his corner as medical personnel leapt in to tend to the stricken fighter.

"He was very hesitant. He wasn't engaging much. But he was a bit too hesitant, and he got clipped," Opetaia said. "After a first-round KO I'm ready for the next fight."

Opetaia boarded his fight from Australia as the IBF's cruiserweight champion but was stripped by the organization for taking the fight with the unranked Zorro over third-ranked Mairis Briedis. He's still considered the No. 1 man by The Ring, however, and Hearn has far bigger opportunities in mind anyway.

"This is one of the most exciting fighters on the planet," Hearn said. "I'd like to see him become an undisputed champion (at cruiserweight) before moving up to heavyweight. But it's inevitable."

On an eight-fight card, you're bound to have some ugliness.

The second bout matching unbeaten slugger Hrgovic and 40-something Australian veteran Mark De Mori was all that and more, lasting less than two minutes before the heavy favorite won it.

The 31-year-old Croatian drilled his over-matched foe with a right hand to the ear that prompted De Mori to turn his stricken body sideways, teeter a bit, and perhaps make a sound business decision as he drooped to one knee along the ropes.

He rose in time to beat the referee's count but didn't last much longer as heavy right hands continued until the official wave-off at 1:46.

It was the 17th win and 14th KO for Hrgovic, who's been told he's next in line for a title shot after the 2024 unification between IBF champ Usyk and WBC champ Fury.

If those decide on a rematch, Hrgovic has been promised a fight for a vacated title and called highly regarded American Jared Anderson, who's ranked fifth, by name.

It'll be an intriguing appetizer, Hrgovic insisted.

"Jared Anderson is for breakfast. For this kid, it's not smart to fight with me," he said, suggesting Frank Sanchez, Joshua and Wallin (before the main event) were also possible.

"I'm looking forward to my title fight and big fights in the future. I'm ready for a title. I'm open for all these fights. They're all big names and I'm ready."

Better late than never for Sanchez.

The heavyweight has a catchy "Cuban Flash" nickname, a recognizable trainer in Eddy Reynoso, and arrived with a couple of cheesy regional championship claims.

But for nearly six complete rounds, his performance in the opening fight on the PPV was a colossal dud.

He was tentative against twice-beaten gatekeeper Junior Fa and was allowing himself to be outworked from the center of the ring by an ordinary 6'5" New Zealand trial horse.

Then a decisive right hand finally landed.

The first meaningful power shot dropped Fa in the last 10 seconds of the sixth round, and though the gutty 34-year-old got up and made to his stool for a one-minute break, he was dumped twice more in the seventh and ultimately had his night waved off at 2:42.

It was Sanchez's 24th victory and 17th finish, though hardly the sort of performance, outside of the final three minutes, that'll earn him much more attention than he'd already had.

Fa has lost three of four and been stopped twice after a 19-0 start.

"Ultimately it was just one too many right hands," Mora said. "It was up to Sanchez to make (Fa) relent. Make him not get up. He ended this fight in a flash. That's what he needed and what this crowd wanted."

Main Card

Anthony Joshua def. Otto Wallin by TKO (corner retirement), 3:00, Round 5

Joseph Parker def. Deontay Wilder by unanimous decision (118-111, 118-110, 120-108)

Dmitry Bivol def. Lyndon Arthur by unanimous decision (120-107, 120-107, 120-107)

Daniel Dubois def. Jarrell Miller by TKO, 2:52, Round 10

Preliminary Card

Agit Kabayel def. Arslanbek Makhmudov by TKO, 2:03, Round 4

Jai Opetaia def. Ellis Zorro by TKO, 2:56, Round 1

Filip Hrgovic def. Mark De Mori by TKO, 1:46, Round 1

Frank Sanchez def. Junior Fa by TKO, 2:42, Round 7