I think it can be improved two ways. Optimise his VO2 Max through working his butt off in training, which I don't think he has and work on strength (not weight) so he cannot be bullied as much. Whyte tired him out with roughhouse tactics and he was clearly much stronger physically. Parker will never be a beast at HW but he could close the gap to opponents strength-wise. If he's not thrown about or leaned on as much, he might last the pace better too...
He's doing fine with Kevin Barry as trainer. I think his loyalty to Higgins is more of a problem. Parker lost to Whyte mostly due to terrible refereeing, he was virtually robbed by a referee who mis-called a brutal headbutt knockdown and allowed Whyte to break him down with fouls and wrestling moves all night. But Higgins didn't even seem to watching the fight and it took about 4 or 5 days for Higgins to make a statement of protest.
Whyte was clearly given the second round 10-8 for fouling. Credited with a headbutt knockdown. Whyte was outboxing Parker only after he'd been allowed to wear Parker down with a huge volume of fouls. Whyte was winning rounds where he was fouling in every round without ever being docked a point, in spite of several token warnings. The issue isn't Parker's 'niceness', the issue is the incompetent or corrupt hometown refereeing. It was one of the worst refereeing jobs you will ever see. Whyte was given carte blanche to foul and wrestle. With a proper referee, Parker wins, probably by TKO, and all this criticism and analysis he's been getting would be unnecessary.
Higgins sold him down the swanny I’ve no doubt of that,who would sit looking at their phone instead of supporting their man?
Looks like Parker is sticking with Kevin Barry. I'm not surprised but I'm not too thrilled about it either.
If Whyte was the only instance of this stuff we wouldn't mind so much. But since Takam we have seen the same lack of stamina and lack of ring IQ again and again Parker is a 6 round fighter. May as well blast away and have more success in those 6.
A new heart would help, any heart at all is better than none. Guy acts as if he could give a crap when he's in the ring.
If Parker went hard out for just 6 Rounds - not "saving" his energy for later - he would knock a lot of guys out.
After Ortiz did what Parker couldn't do to Cojanu I think its time to accept that Parker doesn't have that elite firepower which he really needs to make it back to the top.. Now this may just be technique but he looked weak against Whyte physically which isn't promising.. Can a new trainer fix this, well obviously his current arrangement can't so maybe its time to start fresh.. Really he has blown it big time and maybe a regional shot against Browne is about his most promising option atm.. Titles etc are a long way away..