There are a number of articles going around at the moment in regards to Joseph Parker targeting the winner of AJ vs Martin. "Joshua could become a world champion in just his 16th fight after newly-crowned IBF king Martin agreed to make his first defence at London's O2 Arena on April 9, live on Sky Sports Box Office. The IBF were set to offer Joshua a final eliminator for their belt, but Parker might now battle for the right to become a mandatory challenger and promoter Dean Lonergen believes he could receive a shot at the belt by January next year. "The IBF mandatory is up, I think, on January 16 next year," Lonergen told Sky Sports. "If Joseph Parker can get to the mandatory position, which is our goal, as well as being the No 1 mandatory for the WBO, the IBF champion will have to face him - if he's in that position - or relinquish the title, and no one is going to relinquish the title." Longeran went on record last week to confirm that Duco Events was contacted by Martins team about a potential match up (instead of AJ) but Duco would not meet the demands ($$$$) where as Joshua had the money and audience to fit the demand. So, out of the potential match ups, who do you have? AJ vs Martin Martin vs Parker AJ vs Parker ?? (You can obviously select more than one match up in the poll above)
So hard to call, haven't seen enough of any of them against enough different opponents to try and predict this one - we've never seen anyone get close to beating any of them (closest being Whyte giving Joshua a serious rattle) to see where they start getting unstuck. Based on performances against relative competition so far I guess I'd have to play it: Martin vs Joshua: Martin Martin vs Parker: Martin Joshua vs Parker: Joshua At this stage I don't favour anyone more than 60:40 to win. It's a shame Parker's next fight isn't before Martin/AJ as the expectation is that his next opponent should be someone decent so we may get more of a measure of his ability right now (a tad sick of people pulling fights from these young guys 2 years+ ago and saying thats who they are now). Looking forward to Martin/Joshua, this is REALLY going to flavour the future of the HW division I think.
Fair observation Lith. :thumbsup Personally, I dont see anything special with Martin. A whole bunch of people on here are saying he beats AJ...I think Whyte would beat Martin. I don't think AJ has much of a worry with beating Martin. The same applies for Parker. I believe he is far too quick, hard to predict and too pressing for a fighter like Martin. Much the same as AJ, I believe both fighters posses too much for Martin. Between AJ and Parker, at this stage, I have AJ by UD. Give Parker another 8 months and assuming AJ hasn't become some superhuman, I think the fight would be 55/45 AJ. Near enough even. Both fighters have to tools to trouble each other. AJ with the slight edge, due to his size advantage. :good
I basically agree with this. I would like to note though the difference between AJ and Parkers attitude. AJ is further along the road so to speak than Parker is in regards to competition. Despite this AJs fan on every media site are putting in their thoughts on how AJ have been pushed to a title shot too early in his career. I'd love to make an account everywhere this is being said and point out that Martin is not a world level fighter but I think the Brits would ignore it. They seem to coddle their prospects too much. On the other hand Parker is calling people out and trying to jump through the ranks. The exact opposite of AJ. This is something that attract fans and if Parker is able to successfully jump ahead in competition and continue his dominance he may become more popular than AJ in the next few years. I personally hope they both find a lot of success in the new era of HW boxing.
people forget joshua's been pro for less than 2 and a half years. we're not remotely close to some kind of wilder situation; he's been gradually progressing to tougher and tougher challenges. i think he's been matched pretty sensibly so far, and there's no reason to think they won't get him in with elite opposition in a year or two. parker may be a little younger than joshua but he's been a professional for over a year longer, and has fought arguably the lesser opposition of the two. let's not pretend parker has been thrown in with the wolves any more than joshua has, regardless of what you may perceive their respective attitudes outside the ring to be. 'til he gets in the ring with risky opponents, it's all talk.
I wasn't taking any hits towards AJ. I was just pointing out the two completely opposing dynamics the two fighters bring to the HW division. It's what makes boxing exciting. Povektin and Fury have always been a bore to me. They never got my blood pumping when I watch them fight. Wilder is fun to watch but it's hard for me to have faith in him dominating the division in the future when I watch his fights. I think Martin will disappear as soon as he loses the IBF title here soon. Parker and Joshua are both extremely exciting and have huge potential in my opinion.
AJ knocks Parker out inside 4 rounds and Martin inside 3 rounds, He is in a different league to those guys.
I'd seen these articles, clearly Parker and their team think they can beat Joshua and even if they can't the payday is simply too good to pass up. Personally I'd like to see Parker go the WBC route first. He's ranked 6th by them so he could earn a mandatory shot at whoever is the WBC champion. Hopefully it's Povetkin the idea of Povetkin/Parker has me giddy with excitement, it would be a very entertaining fight with these two combination punchers. If Parker can get a crack at Stiverne who is ranked 3rd and beat him, with Joshua winning the IBF belt that would have Parker as the likely mandatory. We would then have Joshua as IBF champion and Parker as WBC champion and a unification fight would be huge and we'd have seen Parker against Povetkin and Joshua which are the 2 fights at heavyweight I want to see the most. As for who will win between Parker and Joshua, not a clue, style wise I think Joshua poses a tougher match up for Parker but Parker's speed could overcome Joshua's style.
My first thought was to state that it was far too early for Parker to fight for a world title .......bla...........bla. Come to think of it Martin is nothing special at all,and even at this stage of his career Parker will probably able to beat him. Joshua,too,is no seasoned pro with 30 or 40 pro fights . Sure,Joshua has the better fight record but Parker isnt that far behind neither in experience nor age. He should put all his eggs into the basket and go for the world title.Both Joshua and Martin are beatable,far less dangerous than Fury or Klitschko.
the ibf lets you pay to get your fighter rated, but team parker do not have 2 fighters / but being american haymon might pay to put up one of his stable . breazale would be a very winnable fight for parker to get his number 1 slot but also being the ibf it would not even have to be a rated fighter just a promoter willing to pay ibf mandatory slot fees.
