Joseph Parker Brutally Sledgehammers Anthony Joshua Into A Heap Of Samoan Chop Suey... on 3/31!

its nice to dream isnt it deal

 

I think he still did pick AJ in the prediction league though.

I think it's a 80/20 fight in favour of Joshua, the one question mark for Joshua is whether his chin is any good if Parker manages to land.

 

I'm more like 65/35 - reason it's not more one way or another is largely due to questions regarding both guys which I'd have liked answered before the fight.

 

This fight will answer a great many questions about both of them.

 

So long as it lasts long enough. I feel that both have the potential to end the game prematurely for the other if something flush makes it through with conviction

 

Hope you are right. I just feel that stylistically it's a bad matchup for Parker.

 

AJ is "stylistically" bad for everyone on the planet! LOL.

But Parker does have a chance. I make it 70/30.

 

I hope I'm wrong! I want it to be 50:50 or in favour of Parker, hahaha. Saying 65:35 was a bitter pill to swallow.

Stylistically I think Parker could be one of the toughest people for AJ to deal with, having a mix of speed, enough power to hurt him and a good enough chin to (hopefully) be able to stay in the fight to make a stressful evening for Joshua.

As Kiwi_in_America, AJ is a stylistic nightmare for everyone - so far at least. There is no denying he is a dangerous person to put be put in front of when someone is throwing millions of dollars at him and telling him to hurt whoever comes face to face with him.

 

I'm not at all confident about Parker beating Joshua and am not going to make any big predictions but one thing that's bothering me is this erroneous suggestion that Parker is somehow physically inadequate.

It's true that 6'4" is no longer tall in the modern heavyweight scene, but it's not exactly short either! Especially when Parker is a come-forward combination puncher- he's probably one of the taller fighters out there whose calling card is hand speed and volume punching. It's not like he's trying to do a Klitschko impersonation and rely on reach and physical strength to keep opponents at bay.

Also he's a legit 6'4" (or near enough ) not a "boxing 6'4" like Dillian Whyte. He's 2 inches or less shorter than Joshua. When they fight he'll be clearly shorter but not by a lot.

As for his reach measurement, I take that with a grain of salt (as far as I'm aware these stats are just given by promoters, they're not "official" measurements) and also note that reach is not a measure of arm length. Joshua has very broad shoulders which contributes to his reach measurement, Parker less so. I don't believe that Parker has unusually short arms.

Secondly, while AJ is undoubtedly faaaaar more impressive looking from a body-building point of view, the reality is that in terms of natural size/mass they are basically the exact same size. Parker has been 228-240 range since he was 18 (he actually looked bigger as a kid but has trimmed down to some of his lower fighting weights in the pros) while Joshua was 230ish when he went pro and has, quite obviously, added muscle bulk to that. Are people actually arguing that extraneous, aesthetic bulk is now a good thing for a boxer to have?

There's no doubt that when they square off Joshua is going to look the goods with his huge shoulders, bulging pecs, massive biceps and small but noticeable height advantage. But in terms of functional size what you really have is a couple of 230lbish guys in the 6'4"-6'6" range, with Parker more proportionally built while Joshua is naturally leaner (black guys legs vs Samoan guy legs....) but more jacked.

 

Nice points, Manu.

 

I think Parker is pretty decent, doesn't seem to be chinny and throws some nice combinations. As points he looked a bit gassed against Takan but he rallied well and fought it out until the end. Joshua hasn't yet needed to grow out of his fairly rudimentary fighting style so far; it's been effective enough against limited opposition. That said, I agree with that I would balance this 70/30 toward Joshua. I don't think he's actually chinny and Parker hits hard but I am yet to see anything to warrant a label as a dangerous puncher. When Joshua is unloading he is often open to a counter (he doesn't pull his hands back properly) and yes Parker has the speed to land, I'm not sure he is an accurate enough puncher whilst being under that sort of pressure

 

I wouldn't say AJ was a stylistic nightmare for everyone, he's just a big guy with sound fundamentals and a big punch. I think Fury would give him problems and is more of a stylistic problem for AJ than the other way round. I personally have doubts at how AJ will cope with Fury's movement, he struggled in the Olympics against movers like Savon and Dychko.

If Parker is to win I don't think it will simply be a matter of him getting inside and letting his faster hands and combinations go as that's hard to do and risky, it will come down to him out maneuvering AJ first to create chances to let his hands go.

Joshua is more effective coming forward and likes to come forward, he does over extend himself sometimes and takes risks such as throwing uppercuts from range. Parker needs to draw AJ in, make him chase him and when AJ over commits that's when Parker should pounce and step in and throw. He needs to create instances where both are trading, he needs to time his aggression and counters to coincide with when AJ is letting his hands go and because Parker is clearly faster this is where he'll beat AJ to the punch and could gain and advantage.

If he can do this enough and punish AJ for his over aggression he could force AJ to be more passive and box off the back foot where he is less effective and in that scenario that's when Parker can be the aggressor and really take it to an AJ fighting in a less effective way.

Easier said than done of course AJ even when aggressive tries to force his opponent back and in doing so keep his opponent at his perfect range. I'm not sure Parker at this stage has the smarts or the right team to come up with or execute a strategy that could see him come out on top.

But you never know, even with the wrong strategy all it takes is one punch to turn a fight and we know Parker isn't a guy that will just quit when things are tough as proven against Takam.

 

I think people will be shocked at how uncompetitive this fight will be.

Joshua is on another level

 

Absolutely.

Parker is good, but he's too green and young to compete at that level. AJ looks closer to his prime, he's 2+ years older and he has all physical advantages: power, strength, size, reach, weight.

If I were Parker's manager, I'd left that route and went on to fight 5-6 more fights vs quality opponents like Takam.