Good explanation. He still moves forwards with more lateral movement than many others around today though. Someone like Parker is the ultimate plodder to me. While he's athletic, he comes in and back tracks in straight lines.
I wouldn't call Parker a plodder as he has quicker and lighter feet than Ortiz and has far better movement. But quick feet and movement alone doesn't mean you have good footwork, as you say he backs up in straight lines and doesn't move well laterally. Ortiz = slow feet and poor movement but good balance and positioning in regards to footwork. Parker - fast feet, good movement but poor balance, footwork and positioning. Both have flaws in regards to foot work. Ortiz's means he struggles with agile fighters he has to chase and cut the ring off from because he can't always get into position to punch. For Parker his flaws mean he's easy to cut off the ring against, his balance can be poor and he puts himself in poor positions where he is vulnerable.
Parker is a mover who rides with the shots rather than block them. Just watch the Joshua fight again.
Old Man River Ortiz has fought a grand total of ONE puncher his entire pro career and he lost. His head is a magnet for right hands and he has enough concrete in his boots to construct a multi-story car park. Tony Thompson (and a 300 year old one at that), Malik ''80-72'' Scott, and Bryant Jennings couldn't wobble an anorexic old lady if they cracked her flush on the sweet spot with their Sunday punch and they're the only half decent opponents Ortiz has fought apart from Donkeypotamus Wilder and I'm talking decent by the abysmal standards of today's HW division where you have a bunch of talentless Herman Munster-esque clones who took up the sport very late after transitioning from other sports and as a result are totally devoid the merest semblance of skill all vying it out with each other to try and establish who the King of Bumland is. I was chatting to Felix Savon on Twitter the other day and he said that the good people of Cuba used to rip the **** out of Ortiz for his inability to avoid a punch. He said there used to be a running joke back in the day that Ortiz gets hit with more shots in one fight of a tournament than the rest of the Cuban team get caught with in all their ones in them combined. Check this out if you don't believe me he gets hit with more right hands than his opponent throws in this one. This content is protected People rate Ortiz because unlike almost every other HW on the planet he actually possesses a modicum of skill. The only other HW who does is Tyson ''Too Fast'' Fury aka the Gypsy King who was the slickest and most skilled HW of all times back when he was in his prime ie. before he ballooned up to 400lbs, spent 2.5 years on his sofa emptying the contents of a bakery and Burger King every day and spent his nights snorting more blow and drinking more booze than Tony Montana's rock star brother. That Tyson is long gone and as much as it pains me to say it, he's never coming back, people. I watched the Seferi fight last night and hand on heart I burst into tears and had to stop watching midway through as I found it too upsetting seeing how much he'd declined and what a pale shadow of the magnificent fighter he was before the powers that be banished him from the sport and tried to ruin him. I dare you to go and watch it and then come back with a straight face and tell me he's not shot to smithereens. His mechanism has totally gone. It was like seeing the most beautiful woman you've ever seen go from this This content is protected To this. A repulsive monkey-faced old hag This content is protected AJ KO3 Ortiz