Will Parker be a bigger threat to Zhang than Hrgovic and Joyce were?

He's quicker and a bit more awkward. He might be harder to time than the mobile statues were.

 

Parker will fight more conservatively than Joyce and Hrgovic did, so he might last the distance. But he brings very little to the table to make me think he has a decent chance of winning.

 

He is little quicker than Joyce but for sure not quicker than Hrgovic.
He also is small compare to Filip and Joe soo his movement advantage over them disapear because he must come closer to Zhang.

He probably can show us better boxing than Joe because he is not stupid and it can be little longer for Zhang to catch him perfect but I'm sure he will be look worse than Filip who imo win with Zhang after hard fight.

Filip is bigger (198/208 to 193/193), got stronger 1 punch, and he probably got better chin. He got advantage over Zhang in size and movement and speed and this fight was very hard and close.
Parker got little advantage on foot speed but he is much smaller man with less power and worse chin.
Zhang win this.

 

If we're serious and set aside hype for a minute...

He's much more proven all-round than Joyce and in a different universe of proven-ness to Hrgovic or Zhang who aren't nearly as proven as Joyce.

Set aside puerile and mentally incompetent triangle theories and this is easily the best opponent Zhang has had.

Parker's inconsistent at times, but seems to have a good team and mindset at the moment and that makes him a difficult fight for almost anyone in the division... And certainly when you're as unproven as Zhang (who's only beaten one fighter inside the top 200).

The big difference between Parker and Joyce or Hrgovic is discipline - he'll come with a gameplan and he'll stick to it... And that'll mean he's defensively much more solid than those two.
He's not knocking too many guys with decent chins out - but there's more ways to win than that, even at heavyweight.

The fact Parker isn't favourite going into this is a testament to how easily hype narratives take hold - if Zhang is a serious top ten fighter (which Parker definitely is), he's got lots of proving to do, and very few years in which to do so.

 

Being proven fighter mean nothing in fight night.
Even if we took thoose 3.
Joyce was legit, proven fighter who beat many good names. Hrgovic beat absolultly nobody. And one win with Zhang and second lost 2 times in brutal way.

Fury win with Wlad was proven? By beat Hammer or Chisora?
Maybe Joshua was proven when he beat Klitschko?

Zhang dont need more test. He beat dude from top 5 and in many opinion got very close fight with another today top 10.
One of this dude destroy "more proven" Parker.

If somebody got hope for Parker because he is "proven" then sorry...

 

Yes and no.

It means more in the analysis beforehand, though - being more proven at a high level is significant...
Having done it before means you're more likely to be capable of doing it again - the more you've done it, the more likely you are to be successful again. This is fairly basic stuff.

Joyce was massively overhyped.

Quite well proven, but only beat one genuine contender (Parker) and a few gatekeepers... A better resume than the vast majority have at sub-20 fights, but not proven consistently at genuine contender level.

Hrgovic won a close 50/50 fight with Zhang - which is good as long as you assume Zhang is good...
And you'll need to assume a bit, because he's only fought one other top-200 fighter, Joyce.

It's possible Zhang is a fringe contender like Joyce, maybe even a legit contender - but it's also possible he's a gatekeeper level fighter who just happened to be all wrong for Joyce and wouldn't beat anyone else at that level... Until we've seen him fight more we just won't know - and that's the whole point.

Have I not been critical enough of the rest of Fury's resume below Wlad for you?

Seriously - I think he's good, maybe even very good... But I also think there's more question marks than many are willing to entertain.

The difference being that Joshua went on to clean out most of the other major figures in the division at the time... With the exception of the chicken livered, chicken legged WeBeCorrupt champion who ran a mile from him.

He needs a LOT more tests to be proven legit.
He can't just beat one top 10 (5-10) level fighter and lose to a guy whose best other wins are 50th-ish at best and claim to be proven - no way.

You know how dumb I think unsubstantiated triangle theories are, right?

Maybe Joyce was all wrong for Parker (we don't know because it wasn't rematched) - or maybe there's some truth in the idea that Parker went into it with totally the wrong plan.

It's not a question of "hope".

It's a question of evidence.

The evidence shows Parker is an inconsistent but legit contender.
The evidence on Zhang suggests he might be, but it's too thin to stand on.

And the way this works is you follow the evidence unless there's very good reason not to... If the underdog wins, they get the level of respect they deserve - and a solid chunk of evidence in their favour for the next fight.

 

I dont learn yet how to answer to part of post soo forgive me I will answer all at once.

Joyce was overrated but not because he beat nobody. Actually he beat quiet good opposition for his top 10 place. He beat few known names from past (Stiverne, Jennings), he beat another Young perspective boxer in fight 50/50 where at last at Polish site more people see Dubois as favorite, he beat quiet good Takam, and also few other known boxers (Ustinov, Hammer). And end of the day he destroy Parker himself.

He deserve his place. And he was not top 200... He was in many minds top 3 and in reality for sure top 10. Zhang destroyed him twice. That's better than anything Parker done probably. Only Wilder but he himself got not better resume than Joe.

Zhang beating someone like Joyce proof he is on high level. But if You think that's only style thing You also got another fight with Filip who is different boxer than Joe and he is now in top 10 and even if Zhang lost with him he show high class here.

Fury and Joshua example is just here to show that You can be not proven and still being better in fight night than someone who is proven 1000 percent.
And Joshua dont beat everybody best before Wład fight. Actually he beat them later.

Parker is proven for You but for me he on this top level always got problems. He was not much better than people on Takam and Chisora level. He got near draw fight with Andy Ruiz. He lost to Whyte. Lost to Joyce. Lost to Joshua. Lost imo 1 fight with Chisora. Looks worse with Hughie Fury than Kubrat Pulev.

Yes I know he beat Wilder but Wilder is specific situation. He beat dudes who almost fight with anybody and build his carrer on Furys fight where he imo 3 x lost. But Fury was number 1 soo nobody judge him hard way after.
We dont know if Wilder was soo good in reality as they pretend us on rankings. He might lose to many people. Special after Fury beating and when he is inactive and old.

For me Parker is not soo much better proven fighter in good way. I think Zhang will beat all his opponents without Joshua probably.

But we will see. Im not saying for sure Im not You right.

 

For me, the crux of this fight rests on which version of Parker turns up. He's been very inconsistent at the highest level. I think if the Joe of the Wilder fight appears again ... The one with sky high confidence and an excellent game plan...he'll win.

 

I think Zhang is very good - a legit Top-6 nightmare of a man

But I also believe we are seeing "Peak Parker" right now - and I see him taking this fight

 

I'm looking forward to Joe-ZZ as much as AJ-Francis N.
Good debate between BlackDog (seems likely that English is not his primary language) and BubblesUK (likely English is - ducks).
...and the winnah by split decision...

Hard fight to analyze and predict a high probability outcome. Many here (most?) seem to favor Zhang. The bookies are favoring Zhang but not overwhelmingly. Keep in mind sports lines are meant to "balance the books".
I hope who I'm favoring isn't influencing me, but I think Parker is a very live dog and toss up is a reasonable view.

 

Not so much a bigger threat but he’s going to have to make some adjustments. Parker is gonna box and move and make Zhang follow him around the ring, with the Hrgovic and Joyce fights he didn’t really have to.

 

No. Parker will have to fight for 12 rnds. This isn't an easy fight for Parker. He doesn't have the size to make this an inside fight to help wear down Zhang. He can only try by keeping distance and maintaining an upbeat tempo in hope he can drown Zhang in the later rnds. Won't be easy. Zhang is very dangerous in the early rnds. Zhang has underrated speed and timing. He also carries power into the later rnds.

 

He couldn't possibly do worse than Joyce. Joyce is a good fighter but I'm convinced he could fight Zhang 100x and he'd get stopped every time.