Parker fought the wrong fight

After Parker won round 9, he should have just boxed off the back foot. Wait for Wardley to come to you, frustrate him, land 2-3 punch combos and walk away.

I am also questioning why Andy Lee allowed this to go ahead. Why not fight Richard Torrez Jr. or Kevin Larena in prep for Usyk? He needed a southpaw to prep for Usyk.

Even if Parker would have beaten Wardley, it would not have prepared him for Usyk at all. And he would have taken so much unnecessary damage even in victory.

 

I agree

I agree , had he boxed at a distance he could have won. I wonder if Parker actually thought he's a big puncher after getting rid of Bakole in 2?

 

Wardley is too dangerous on the frontfoot when he has you against the ropes.

 

Exactly the same as he could've against Joyce.

It's plain dumb trying to fight in a way that doesn't suit your strengths at all - and it's not the first time he's done it.

Very poor show.

 

Totally agree. Massive credit to Wardley. But if Parker had boxed to his strengths I think he would have won. I wonder if he had fallen in love with his power? Or was high on his own hype

 

I was thinking the same when watching the fight. I said before the fight that if he tries to trade like he did with Joyce, he will get found out. I've no idea why Parker and his team keep trying to knock people out when he clearly just doesn't have the power, particularly against guys with steel chins like Joyce and Wardley. It's maddening, and although I think he boxed a lot more than he did vs Joyce, it still got him into trouble. When he started trying to smash Wardley, I was literally shouting 'What are you doing??' For someone as highly rated as Andy Lee, I don't get why he keeps thinking this can work. The KO against Bakole involved a lot of luck, as Bakole had no business being in that ring, and Parker caught him right on top of the head which scrambled his senses. It wasn't exactly a chin-shattering knockout. I thought Parker and his team had learnt lessons from the Joyce loss. The gameplans against Wilder and Zhang were terrific, so they should have tried to beat Wardley the same way, and honestly, I think they could've. Huni showed them how it can be done, before the KO obviously.

 

The way Parker put Bakole away - and it was impressive - may have clouded his and Lee's judgement about how he went about Wardley.

I think when he and Lee sit down and analyze the fight they will conclude that tactically they could have gone about it smarter.

 

Hard to say from a spectator level .

I think that parker panicked a bit after wardley had shaken him badly as early as on the second round and he just tried to battle him with everything he has . That seemed to work mid rounds so it appeared to be not that of a bad idea.

After the ~ 8th and very exhausting rounds earlier parker started to gas out , might be also due to his excessive weight .

This and bad luck in the infight ( where wardley is "home" ) ... and he lost .

They might have thought its an easy night and lost control after it became clear its not .

 

Parker fights the same fight his entire life although even more static last night with the extra weight.

 

He fought the same fight that he did with Bakole and Wilder. I’d say to an extent Zhang cause Zhangs only prayer was a KO and he dropped Parker. Difference tonight was Wardley has a gas tank. More skilled and better chin than Bakole and Wilder. Not a who lot more but that chin makes up for a lot. Parker landed some nice shots but didn’t seem to phase Wardley. In the end Parker started gassing and Wardley’s relentless head hunting landed. Stoppage was premature in my opinion but he was hurt and hurt bad.

edit: I also want to comment on the extra weight being stupidity.

 

Parker actually fought a pretty good fight outside of getting a bit too greedy. As someone said wardleys more dangerous on the front foot.

The problem joe had was wardley hurt him pretty bad in the 2nd. It happens...its heavyweight boxing. Took a bit out of joe. Tbf tho he beat wardley to the jab and followed it up well all fight.

He just got greedy at times mainly because he was getting success with it. The problem is at some point you will get hit and wardley tends to slow you down when he does hit you.

 

Parker in his early days was a KO machine

In the Top 10 he found the KOs dried up

Bulking up was an experiment to get him back there

It failed against Joyce and it failed against Fabio

 

I was yelling at Parker the entire time. He kept standing toe to toe with Wardley. That's idiotic. Wardley probably has the combo of chin and power among anyone who is still decent in the division. You box that guy, you don't try to take it to him. Jeez.