Parker fought on even ground with Ruiz in what was a pretty good fight, both men had success, ruiz landed several of those flurries that knocked AJ bandy, but they didn't do much to Parker except make him back up and reset, Parker at times came close and out slugged ruiz with his own blistering handspeed. Rematch ing Parker vs AJ, I honestly feel like the ref was paid off to stop Parker from working up close. We all saw how Ruiz murked AJ in close, and Parker has very similar attributes to Ruiz like great handspeed and similar flurries on the inside. Dwyer (who gets a lot of stick) was furious after the AJ PARKER fight saying it was basically rigged because Parkers key strengths were not allowed to be used. After seeing AJ-RUIZ I have to agree with him. At the time people said the ref handicapped both, now we know Joshua has zero inside game and parkers quicker hands and superior chin would have opened Joshua up
I think Parker was built up to be a much more dangerous opponent at the time compared to Ruiz who was really only a replacement. AJ fought very cautious against Parker, against Ruiz he dropped him and went in for the kill but that backfired
Parker is the only prime guy with a pulse big iosh has the W against. Second time he comes up against one - without his home comforts - he folds like a cheap deckchair. I am in no doubt that aj would have quit against Parker too if they’d fought outside of England/wales.
A big clue to Ruiz not quite being hurt in that knockdown was the fact that in the exchange his feet were caught Square when Joshua turned to throw the shot. It simply knocked him over. If he was leaning back on his right foot in the orthodox stance, he stays up. Such a shame the ref ruined that Joshua v Parker fight. Could have been a right tear up that. Ps. Two very random paragraphs. I’m hungover, sorry.
I'm not sure the referee was paid off but his actions definitely favoured Joshua. Many of us saw that clearly at the time, and said it clearly at the tme. Parker actually looked a real threat when he got close but was forced to box at range where Joshua had several inches of reach advantage. Also, the score cards were a joke. Parker won between 3 and 5 rounds on any fair score card but the judges had him winning 1 or 2 at most. Maybe Joshua beats Parker with a normal referee too. I don't know. I certainly didn't see anything conclusive either way to prove or disprove that. The fight was ruined by referee. Parker got a bad rap for his performance in the fight, which isn't fair. The guy tried to fight in the trenches with Joshua, he came forward and got inside, but the referee barred that so Parker had no other option than to box an exclusively cagey and defensive fight on the backfoot.
That referee allowed Joshua to call his own time outs his corner did not fix the loose tape properly and every time he was under pressure the ref took him to fix it then Joshua himself at one point walked to his corner to get it fixed without any direction from the referee and the referee retrospectively allowed it. They never did fix it. Pre planned ploy by McCracken.
Come on now Povetkin was a very good win. Sure he was no longer prime but he was a live dog and that was a very good win for big AJ.
I said parker is the only prime guy with a pulse aj has been in with. (other than the tubby guy who just took his soul and made him quit)
You're right. Ruiz, Parker ....... and possibly Whyte, who was regarded by everyone as domestic level fighter at the time. Wlad, Poverkin and even Takam were OLD men.
I can’t agree that Povetkin had no pulse. He looked excellent in the first couple of rounds, arguably performed better in those than Ruiz did against Joshua. He landed a few really quality explosive shots. But I would concede that he was past his prime and at that stage a six round fighter. I fancied him strongly to take out Joshua Ruiz-style early on. Joshua handled him very well.
Agreed. Everyone seems to be jumping on AJs back now they've woken up to his smoke and mirrors resume. Shot old midgets, guys on a few weeks notice, and retired old grey haired saggy backed old men. And a very dubious decision against prime joe parker. "Eddie Hearns says..." Breazeale, Whyte, Povetkin, Parker, Takam, Klitschko… and the sky brains trust repeat it without a second thought. Now people realise the only prime guy with a pulse other than Joe Parker the chinny robot has faced is Andy Ruiz and he got SONNED.
From watching Parker vs AJ, my view was Parker didn't commit. He was quick enough to stay on the outside vs Joshua but he never committed to his punches when attacking. By the time he attacked, he was already thinking of retreating. This coupled with Joshua being slow against moving targets resulted in the negative contest we all saw. That said AJ was pressing the action and I gave him about 8 or 9 rounds. Parker simply didn't do enough.
I think people are exaggerating how “bad” Joshua is. These conspiracy theories are ridiculous. What I will say though is people did exaggerate how good he was. He’s a top boxer, not going to be an all time great, I fancy him to get revenge on Ruiz but not sure he comes through a Wilder fight and Fury will dance around him all night.
