Joseph Parker is tentative and relatively featherfisted

Parker went the 12 round distance in 9 of his 14 fights since May 2016: Takam, Ruiz, Cojanu(!) Hughie, AJ, Whyte, Fa(!) Chisora 1, Chisora 2

Parker only won by more than 2 points on all three scorecards in one of these fights (Cojanu) and only won on all three scorecards in three others (Takam, Fa, Chisora 2) losing on all three scorecards in two (AJ, Whyte)

After getting yet another controversial decision (Chisora 1) Parker stated that he wouldn’t have complained if he hadn’t been given the nod!

Fighters of the aforementioned 9 that Parker knocked down: an exhausted Whyte in the 12th round and a badly shopworn Chisora x3. Parker was knocked down twice by the same men

Parker did not stop any of his previous 3 opponents and his last stoppage was a 5th round TKO of Shawndell Winters in February 2020 (who future LHW Brian Howard and cruiserweight Babic both blasted out in 2)

Half of the fighters that Parker went the distance with had already been stopped: Whyte by AJ (KO7) Chisora by Haye (TKO5) Fury (RTD10) and Whyte (KO11) Takam by Povetkin (KO10) and Cojanu by Donovan Dennis (KO2). All of this group barring Chisora have also been stopped (multiple times) since, as has AJ by Ruiz (NOMAS7) and Fa by Lucas Browne (KO1)

Of the 5 no-hopers that Parker stopped over this period all had been stopped before: Haumono by Kevin Johnson, Dimitrenko by Pulev, Flores by Charles Martin, Leapai (Parker got a controversial stoppage after almost 10 full rounds) by Baden Oui, Kevin Johnson and Wlad and Shawndell Winters by Brian Howard

Most of the heavyweights on Parker’s level have shown the ability to stop an opponent on a similar level: Chisora KO’d Takam, Whyte KO’d Chisora and Ruiz KO’d AJ but Parker hasn't KO'd anyone of note.

 

He's an AJ victim and AJ was regarded as the second coming until he lost to Ruiz. Even after he lost to Ruiz there was an impetus to discredit Fury and Wilder to compensate for AJ's failure. AJ's loss to Ruiz also boosted Parker's reputation as Parker managed to squeak a victory over Ruiz in New Zealand on the first time of asking.

Parker has some good attributes: fast hands, solid chin and experience in particular. On paper the wins look decent too (Takam, Ruiz, Hughie, Chisora x2).

He was wise to duck Joyce and target a Whyte rematch instead because Parker can't beat any of the 1st rate guys and he will go life and death every time with the 2nd rate guys.

 

Politics: when Andy Ruiz is your opponent for a vacant title in your backyard you don't have to be that good to become a world champion. If your opponent for a vacant title spontaneously collapses with a horrible injury you can pick up a title while being a fair bit worse than Parker. So long as the likes of Fury, Wilder, Usyk, Joyce and AJ are around holding the belts, Parker won't be a world champion again and he knows it.