Anthony Oluwafemi Joshua vs. Joseph Dennis Parker - THE *OFFICIAL* POLL

162-31-3 (120) for AJ

 

I think so. I also think if Joshua wins and we see a build-up to unification between him and Wilder either this year or next, the poll is going to be much closer to 50-50, and yet in hindsight once the dust settles a lot of people are going to end up feeling very silly because I think Parker should he lose will put up a much better fight than Wilder eventually does. To me this is the bigger fight (in terms of being the best two in the division, and likely to be a high-level competitive match), while most see it as the "appetizer" before the realistically far less meaningful one.

I could be wrong. If we see Parker blitzed in a minute Povetkin vs. Pérez, and then Wilder either acquits himself well in a loss in, say, a nip & tuck battle over 12, or beats Joshua - then of course people are certain to (and welcome to) quote this post and yuck it up with "LOLOLOL IB DKSAB!", and that's fine. Just based on all we currently know and have seen of all three men, at this moment in time, I think Parker, not Wilder, is the second best heavyweight behind Joshua, and h2h is more stylistically equipped to have success vs. Joshua whereas I only give Wilder a very slim puncher's chance. If everything indeed goes topsy-turvy, I'll stand by this assessment having made sense at this particular juncture.

 

That's a good point, forcing people to pick an outcome isn't the same as, say, plotting out a Cartesian graph of "how many rounds does Parker win should it reach x # of rounds", or a simple bar chart plotting whether Parker or Wilder is going to have more success in any one qualitative or quantifiable area vs. Joshua (more jabs landed, more times visibly shaking Parker up, more shots blocked/slipped, taking his biggest shots better, etc) - but I think my point stands, that in a Wilder poll you would see a lot more votes of confidence in him, judging by the overall tenor of posts on here, confidence I think is misplaced, as I give Parker a much better chance to win and, while I think Joshua defeats both, I think Parker will have far less reason to feel embarrassed (and would be likelier to warrant a rematch, whereas there will be little doubt, IMO, who the better man is when Joshua beats Wilder)

 

You've gotta wait for it!

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Finally they've released the full episode of Gloves Are Off!!!

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I'm excited to see what he can bring on Saturday.

(...and wasn't half as excited for Wilder vs. Ortiz, FWIW)