POLL: Was the stoppage in Wardley-Parker an early stoppage?

Wardley's punches were wild, losing power and technique, and even the one that actually landed out of the last half-dozen he threw had no weight behind it because he was shattered. Parker was also absolutely shattered, though. If we're giving Foster the benefit of the doubt, it could've set up a 12th round where one of them got seriously hurt. Parker fought a dreadful fight, allowed Wardley to get back into it, got dragegd into Fabio's gameplan and blew his shot at Usyk for good, he has nobody to blame but himself.

 

Wardley would get the standing 8-count.

 

I thought it was early. Parker was in no worse shape than 30 seconds prior and Wardley was gassing out. This is a guy who has gone to war many times and stands to lose his entire rebuilding process; he sure as hell doesn't want it stopped if it isn't completely obvious he needs saving.

Add it to the list of unsatisfying TKO victories for a british fighter on british soil.

 

It was definitely a bit early, considering the way the fight had gone.

Others in this thread have correctly pointed out that it's far from the worst ever, but all the same if it was the other way around I suspect a standing 8 count would have been given

 

The fighters know after being hurt they have to fight back properly or run/hug, they all know this and the ref is talking to them in the ring. So if they don't do this they're either too concussed to do it or making a very dumb move. Probably they're too concussed. These fighters rarely admit how hurt they were in fights and it's likely Parker was VERY hurt.

Lee stopped that Russian on his feet when the guy got hurt and didn't fight back for a volley of shots, Groves stopped the other Russian the same way. Both actual title fights not just eliminators for a title fight.

You can't just stand there, especially these days after the comas and brain bleeds which happen from attrition punches, the refs are going to be more cautious because they don't want a coma or death on their record. Whether that's correct or not, it's how the sport is now so as a fighter you have to adapt to it.

I think Parker was too hurt to defend himself properly, aka clinch or run, it wasn't just a bad decision.

 

Why, he was barely that hurt? Buzzed a little yeah but its the 11th round hes a little tired too, can he rest? That doesn't mean he's hurt. You can't rest at the end of a long fight without getting stopped now? Just because a british commentator is having an orgasm live on air because Wardley just missed 12 punches still doesn't equal that he's hurt.

 

It was an early stoppage. Parker was still aware of his surroundings and visibly surprised at being stopped. He was however seriously hurt and it could have been stopped at other moments, including at the end of the previous round, when Parker was visibly out of it.

Foster has history going all the way back to Groves vs Froch 1 of stopping fights early. However, that stoppage was way worse than this one. In Groves vs Froch, at no point did Groves appear hurt or in distress.

 

I think the stoppage was legit. Wardley punished Parker for 30 seconds non stop, first north side ropes then west. Parker deserved the TKO loss. He should've responded to Wardley's shots, not stand in front of him like an oak trunk.

 

There were some heavy shots landed.
This wasn't a Calzaghe-Manfredo situation.

I didn't like Parker being stopped like that but it was within the bounds of reasonable. The referee might not be a good one but I wouldn't want his job.

 

Ok but I think some of you guys need to admit a lot of what you are looking at is also Parker boxing 11 rounds and also just being kinda tired, you cant borrow being tired in an 11 round fight which is completely normal and then lump it in and try to add it into how badly hurt he is which is exactly what I think a lot of you are also doing.

I mean you could not actually differentiate the difference between a Parker looking visibly hurt and a Parker looking visibly tired here theres clearly some of both but one group is taking tired body language and trying to sneak that in with how hurt he is. Its totally normal for a fighter in round 11 to take a little breather and time himself to put himself together! Don't try to take that and use it to say he should be stopped! Thats being sneaky!

 

The very last punch you can clearly see Parker slips it, he had enough about him to do that. It was a premature stoppage.

 

Exactly.

Also, Parker knows:

1. He's in Britain, the land of the premature stoppage

2. Howard Foster is the referee

It was the forth time in the fight he'd been hurt and Wardley was all over him. Parker needed to do something and he didn't.

 

Yes but it being the 11th round is exactly why i give the referee some benefit of the doubt here. He's stopping a fight where heavy punches have been landed throughout the fight. If a stoppage like that occurred in round 2 I would be complaining that it was unreasonably early. But boxers tend to be more vulnerable to serious injury in longer fights, where punishment has been dished out for several rounds. So it was within reason to stop it at that point.

Anyway rightfully Parker and Wardley should be doing a rematch. Because it was close and it was a good fight and very competitive. But I don't think FW wants that for Wardley next, unfortunately.

 

The thing is every week boxing fans complain about decisions and stoppages, I used to do it a lot myself. But it's all part of the game. You win some, you lose some.

 

If you look at Andy Lee (who knows the game inside out), he puts his head in his hands at the stoppage. He knows the stoppage was coming, because Joe wasn't defending himself, and he probably knew that Joe was gassing anyway. The ref sees things no-one else does in that ring, whether that's good for objectivity is another matter. It could be seen as an early stoppage, but it's not an absolute travesty.