I feel even though Parker was just spoiling during this fight he still showed good defensive skills, do Fury or Wilder fans think either guy could have landed more than AJ? This content is protected
For a big man he moves well and can slip stuff quite good,i also think Wilder and Fury might land more on him because he would be coming forward more and fight a different fight against those two. Against Joshua, he was not only fighting a bigger man but also stronger man with better skills than those two and that put Parker into a survival/safety first approach in their fight imo
With this fight people confuse "surviving" with good defense. Joshua barely landed for the first half of the fight. I hate that the narrative is Parker trying to survive. It's a boxing match, he is in with a puncher. He won rounds until he faded (oddly, what I thought would happen to Joshua going into the fight). Fight was a draw. Parker took 5 of the first 6, Joshua took 5 of the last 6. That's how it scored out for me.
Parker's defense needs work as does his footwork and his ring IQ. Good defense should translate into offense, which wasn't happening enough from Parker. He was avoiding Joshua's punches, but wasn't making Joshua pay. Parker had to know going into England that he was going to have to press the fight or score a few knock downs or a knockout to beat Joshua. Every time Joshua would throw a jab Parker would slip it, but he would be too out of range to capitalize on it. Takam vs. Joshua This content is protected As critical as I am of Takam and Whyte they put up a better fight against Joshua than Parker did. Takam can't punch to save his life, but he was scoring more on Joshua, since he would get in range first, slip Joshua's punch, then counter Joshua and land, since he was already in range. Takam took more punches against Joshua than Parker did, but was landing more often. Whyte vs. Joshua This content is protected Whyte would jab at Joshua's body to get Joshua to come forward as a way of having Joshua cut off the distance for him and then once Joshua got in range Whyte would try to counter him with the left hook. It took a couple tries, but Whyte timed Joshua and rocked him. However, Whyte's poor conditioning let him down and Joshua quickly got his second wind and quickly ran over Whyte. I still believe that Parker needs a real boxing trainer if he wants to get back in the top 10. He's a good athlete with a good chin, but his poor ring IQ, poor punching technique, and poor footwork was going to get exposed eventually.
Parker was meant to have the best double jab in the division........ The fastest hand speed in the division........ And a superior gas tank. Joshua neutralised the first two with his jab, and looked a lot fitter. You criticize a man for 'gassing' against Wlad...... He does the opposite against Parker, and the man still gets criticized. He has flaws, and like all HW's who fight top opposition, he will get beat. But he's the most complete HW out there right now.
Parker's defense was somewhat improved for the AJ bout (e.g. much more head movement). But, no, outside of a couple clean shots in the 5th round - he didn't do much that worried AJ. And his punch production dropped quite dramatically in the last 3 rounds. His ring IQ is a problem. The Cojanu fight is the obvious example (Cojanu tried to employ the same tactics with Oritz - with much-diminished effect). But he's was obviously thrown off his game by Whyte's bullying, too, (though the headbutt certainly did not help) during that bout. The longer a boxer (heck, any athlete) persists with a technical problem - the harder it becomes to address. A break with Kevin Barry is probably long overdue. Honestly, the biggest obstacles that Parker would probably face climbing back to the top are: His recent fights have mostly been boring. Those last few rounds against Whyte were terrific - but other than Whyte's surprisingly-effective handling of him - the remainder of the fight wasn't particularly-good. And his fights against AJ, Hughie Fury, and Cojanu are dreadfully dull. NZ fighters aren't big draws. I'm not dissing New Zealand or it's terrific boxing fans - but it's a nation of 4.7 million people - and that doesn't stoke big purses. That always held back David Tua (high-risk/low reward) - and (thus far) Parker hasn't produced the sort of excitement that Tua did. It will be easy/convenient to overlook Parker in match-making now.
Is Parker 'too soft'? Sure, the headbutt didn't help, but it was more a clash of heads than one of the clever ones a guy like Hopkins would find a way to sneak in. And I think the second KD actually helped him in the fight..... Whyte stopped going to the body then, which was winning him round after round.
If you honestly scored the fight for Parker, then Parker wouldn't have been in the ring with Joshua as Hughie Fury would've had his title. Parker did nothing to 'Win rounds', which is the job of the challenger. Parker fought against Joshua, like Hughie did against Parker...... All defense, no offence.
Parker isn't a fighter. He ran away to survive. Terrible performance by a guy I resolved to never watch again after that fight.
Pass. Ask Eddie. He had clear openings all night and seemed happy blocking Whyte's jab with his face, consistently.
