Joseph Parker... a meaningless fight for Usyk?

Because he can still make a lot of money fighting guys he already beat.

 

hundreds of amateur wins, trophies, regional, international, olympic gold, semi pros, cruiser undisputed, 2x heavy undisputed, undefeated is not enough. i demand at the age of 38 he continues to take fights with unproven contenders!

 

How is Parker an unproven contender? He is the most proven contender around.

And yes, if Usyk wants to stay as the undisputed champ he needs to fight his mandatories otherwise he can drop the belts if he wants to retire or have cashout/fun fights.

 

A fight vs a top contender in their division is always meaningful so no. However, I believe Kabayel would be a more interesting fight due to the style clash and the Turk's propensity for body punching.

 

He's not making significant headway is the point

He's not becoming anyones goat by beating Parker or Kabayel or even moving into peoples top 5

 

Well it would make an impact for me I don't have Usyk in my top 10 Heavyweights atm if he beats Parker he goes in my top 10.

Parker is the number 2 Heavyweight clearly and has the best run of form out of any Heavyweight right now he's beaten 3 top 10 ranked Heavyweights in a row.

It would still be a very significant win for Usyk and gives him more of a vast resume since all of his notable wins at Heavyweight are against British fighters.

 

I think Usyk should have one more fight against whoever he wants and call it quits at 25-0.

 

So, in your post you downplay Usyk's victories against Fury and AJ. And you deliberately stress that AJ got knocked down by Wlad.

But somehow beating Parker would save Usyk's legacy. Parker .. the same guy who lost to the aforementioned AJ, got knocked out by Joe Joyce, knocked down twice by and lost to Whyte, knocked down twice by Zhang, and had plenty of meh performances (see Chisora I or Junior Fa).

Do you not see what's wrong with your reasoning?

 

Other than beating Wlad what else has AJ done during his career?

No, beating Parker wouldn't save his legacy but it's a fight that people want t see and there really isn't anyone else out there to fight.

 

You criticize Parker for beating Zhang? Seems a bit weird imo. You gonna criticize AJ for getting knocked down 4 times and stopped by Andy Ruiz?

 

I don't criticize Parker at all. I was responding to the other guy's post and making a completely different point about why his reasoning didn't make sense. If you read it, you'll see that he said the same about AJ and Wlad; so I basically mimicked him to show why this kind of thinking is absurd.

 

Even so, it's weird to put 3 losses and 1 win in that example.

Either way, Usyk should be fighting Parker next.

 

I'm sorry but I have seen you post this numerous times now to downplay Zhang.

I really don't know why you keep framing it like this. It is beyond uncharitable:

3 (Joyce—WBOinterim; Joyce—WBOinterim; Wilder)
3 (Hrgovic—IBFmandatory; Parker—WBOinterim; Kabayel—WBC interim)
1 (Forrest—3KDs but as fight progresses Zhang looks like he is having medical issues, and is hospitalised with renal trouble post fight)

I honestly can't believe anyone in good faith would frame things just to include the draw with Forest in order to downplay Zhang like that; I'd like to think most could see that Zhang was going through some serious medical issue in the ring.
2021 (initial reports):
Zhilei Zhang had kidney failure, liver damage, anemia in Forrest Fight | Bad Left Hook
Zhilei Zhang Hospitalized, Held For Observation Following 10-Round Draw With Jerry Forrest
2025 (recounting the episode):
Inside Zhilei Zhang's camp: Heavyweight opens up on the fight that almost killed him and why he can't see his family | Daily Mail Online

 

But his record against top-200 heavies is 3-3-1, though.

 

It's like me saying Usyk's record is 8-0-0 against top 200 heavies, it's true... but it puts too much emphasis on Witherspoon