Parker has looked very good and beat better comp than Ruiz, but these 2 have sparred against each other, with Ruiz getting the upperhand. Should give Ruiz a huge mental edge.
They sparred 3 times according to Kevin Barry and Parker. Barry mentioned in an interview that the first time Parker was schooled...the second time it was close...the last time Parker dominated and subsequently they were not called back again. Barry is now saying Ruiz is the favourite...is it mental pressure he is trying to push onto Ruiz or trying to hype the fight? Probably both.
Ruiz has around a 20% chance to win. He's the slicker boxer, but hes not more dangerous when you consider who can implement their style and will. a part time athlete is not going to win against a hard trained ,never took his foot off the pedal fighter . Expect parker to use Ruiz as a big punching bag and totally shut down any type of skills Ruiz has,because you may not see them.
Joseph Parker's thoughts pre-fight : "The way this opportunity has evolved, to have the fight in New Zealand, it just adds to that feeling that this is something that's meant to happen." "I stood in the middle of Vector Arena the other day and I looked around, I absorbed the space and the volume of the place. I imagined it with 10,000 fans packed in. It's going to be amazing. Having the support of everyone there is going to lift me and give me an extra boost. "I'm ready to fulfill my destiny. I'm ready to fulfill my grandfather's prophecy."
2 reasons.... 1.Either Ruiz Jr is SOOOOOOOOO overconfident in his skills or he's lazy. 2. Due to reason 1, the American public have little interest in Arreola 2.0. Damned Brits and their who, telling us not to be fooled again.
I hope Parker starts fighting some good opponents in the States to raise his profile up. But is his easy going, chilled out Samoan manner not appealing to the American boxing fans? It seems that if he was a HW in the UK, he would have to get onto Youtube and bottle someone in a press conference to hype things up...