I thought it was quite dull, mainly because aside from the early knockdown it didn't diverge in any way from how I saw it playing out beforehand. Lots of Chisora plodding forward doing his sub-Joe Frazier routine banging away to the body and head and Parker backpedalling with peppering jabs and clinching up when Chisora got too close. A lot of the rounds were uneventful and hard to score, Chisora landing a couple of big shots (mostly OH rights) but Parker catching him with some quick combinations to even things up. Most frustrating thing was how passive and reticent Parker was (again not unexpected) especially when he must have known the fight was close but showed no urgency whatsoever. At least in the Whyte fight he fought back in the last round for all he was worth. Even though he technically won, it's the last time I'll be considering Parker a viable contender. If he can't get fired up for a fight like this then I'm not sure why I should bother either.
I'd say he's definitely that height, a lad who I've boxed with and sparred with at my local gym has been recently sparring with him. I'm around 6ft 1 and this kid is taller than me from what I recall and Parker is a fair bit taller, if I could upload pics on here I would but not sure how to do it.
He is even worse than Usyk and Haye. Despite he is larger than these and also younger, <30 is good age for HW division. While Haye managed to stop Chisora, Parker had laboured till decision and ppl still are thinking that " Klits era was bad era ".
One thing I've noticed of late is how sloppy he's got with his punches. I noticed it in the Hughie Fury fight but thought it was due to Fury's negative style forcing Parker to reach with his shots and losing crispness as a result. But Chisora was standing right in front of him for the most part and Parker was still kind of slapping and winging away at air like he was the slugger and Chisora the boxer. I went back and watched the Meehan fight and it's definitely not my imagination. Clear decline in speed and overall sharpness, even taking into account the level of opponent he's now facing. This content is protected
I fear he stayed with Barry a few years too many. Weird that it took the Fa fight for Parker to see what many have thought for a long time - he wasn't developing or evolving. I wish a new trainer had got their hands on him 3-4 years ago. It's much harder to change ingrained habits now and the time it will take to reprogram will also take him past his physical prime. Next fight is key - he needs to show evolution or the slide to gatekeeper will become inevitable...
What I find interesting is he fights on even terms with Ruiz, Whyte, Chisora....and we get threads like this with everyone trying to figure out what’s ‘wrong’ with him. Does he really have such outstanding attributes that it’s a travesty for him to be the equal of top-10 or even arguably top-5 guys? I’m a Parker fan but it just seems to me like this is his level.
Oh and in terms of height, he’s 6’3” pretty much. Sort of neither tall nor short amongst modern heavies. Of course most guys are over listed a little so he’ll seem 6’4ish (e.g. he’s taller than 6’4” listed Whyte), but against Joshua he certainly wasn’t over 6’3”.
Wrong. Haye had stopped younger Chisora version and he is really smaller than Parker. Haye did had a punch. Usyk, being lighter and valued as " overrated " in forums had performed vs Chisora better than Parker who is young, looks fresh and enough large for HW division unlike Usyk, who also looks that is over the hill and out of prime. Parker is young and already enough experienced and might improve. Today, yeah, he looks below over the hill current Usyk version and previous era Haye. Both of them are lighter than Parker.
I never said he was as good as Haye or Usyk. Haye’s win over Chisora looks very good in retrospect and Usyk’s performance looks pretty good too. If anything it shows that Usyk is a step ahead of the next level of heavies like Parker, Ruiz, Whyte.
He reminds me somewhat of our own Joe Bugner, good solid fundamentals, good chin, well shaped, neat boxer when needed, BUT not really a fighter ( in the true sense ) seems to fight by numbers, all very chronicled , shame because if he had an ounce of Mike Tysons fury he would be world champion . keep well.
He's such a sound guy, i'm always pulling for him to do well. But he doesn't have the ability to impose himself on his opponent. We've never, ever, seen it. All his opponents of class, they all have their way with him eventually, win, lose or draw. You ain't making a meaningful mark if that's the case. Andy Lee took the right approach with Parker, mental as much as technical, but it made **** all difference.
Lol, I remember Hughie Fury complaining on Instagram years ago about not having a girlfriend and feeling lonely. Says it all about him really.
Yeah, he started to regress around 2016, 2017. Hopefully this hooking up with Andy Lee will bring him back up to where he was 5 years ago. He looked good in spurts and his physical conditioning was good, so there's still some hope. It was painful watching him stand off in the 11th round (I think it was) while they shouted "Go Joe ! Now Joe ! Go Joe !".
