He really won't. He has been poor since he stepped up to B level. He won't compete with AJ. Personally I think he could beat Wilder as he's a much better boxer than him. But AJ, Fury and Povetkin are all a level above him.
As I said before, this has been said for many fights. Kali Meehan was going to beat him, Dimitrenko was going to trouble him, Takam was going to destroy him, Hughie Fury was going to completely school him. The trouble with most of the best guys he has fought are hard to gauge as they've not fought other top 20 guys so may be better than expected - OR NOT, but the reality is that Parker has already blown through people in the 25-50 range happily. There is every chance Parker could get blown away early, but then there is also a very decent chance he could shock people
I will risk my international reputation and say that I believe Hughie beat Parker. He at least landed his jab...Parker landed just about nothing. Still, let's get this ridiculous unification over with. May the best undefeated prospect win!
Actually Hughie missed with his jab heaps, and there were plenty of times he "landed" his jab with the back of his glove (back hand slaps, if you will) - which while they sound like they quite rightly weren't counted by the judges, along with his shots to the back of the head... realistically some of his illegal shots should have been warned by the ref at some point. Considering Hughie didn't throw heaps, and he missed a lot of what he threw - that really wouldn't have helped his cause even if it had the people who wanted Parker to lose feeling vindicated in their claims of a robbery.
Parker needs to come in light and hope that Joshua persists with his increased mass. Joshua’s hand speed, and the way he puts together power, quick combinations seems to have really suffered with this weight gain. So, in a nutshell, Parker needs to make sure he’s in prime condition, and hope that Joshua implodes. A few already think Joshua’s weight has got to a point where it’s now hindering his performance.
Yeah his jab fell short a lot of the time and even when he threw it when in range Parker either slipped it or caught it on his right glove. Just watching the fight I'd be surprised if he landed 10% of his jabs and just checking compubox it says he only landed 29/336 which is 8.6%. Compubox isn't accurate but I'd say that was a fair reflection of what happened.
His lack of combination punching isn't due to his weight it's due to the fact he has to have his feet set to throw in combinations and opponents like Ruiz Jr and Takam forced him to move more than he liked, pushing him onto the back foot and preventing him from throwing combinations. Fury's constant movement as well forced Parker to move and chase him down once again preventing him from setting his feet to throw combos. If you watch him against Cojanu he was able to throw combo's again because he had a far more static opponent that allowed him to set his feet and throw combos. Luckily for Parker Joshua isn't a mover, he'll be right in front of Parker and allow him to let his hands go. This is partly why I think Parker will give Joshua a competitive fight.
It’s heavyweight boxing. If you catch your opponent sweet on the button, you can win. Joshua can be floored. It’s not like he’s elusive, he marches forward to fight with no lateral movement. He’ll beat an opponent in a slugfest, credit for that, he’s a very good fighter, but not a very good boxer.
I was referring to Joshua’s weight, with regard to Joshua’s combinations. I reckon Joshua could become his own worst enemy. My point was that Joshua looks slower. If he comes in at around 240 then I would heavily favour Joshua, but I reckon Joshua will come in at 250 plus again. If he does that, and Parker comes in Light, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Joshua lose.
I will give Parker a ton of credit, though: he sincerely wants this fight. Wilder, on the other hand, is probably just posturing.
I struggle to see Parker winning on points based on these two guys style. He could with multiple knock downs. Parker needs to be very patient. He has shown he is reasonably so in his recent wins - rather than open himself up head hunting in later rounds he has stuck to his plans. If Dillian Whyte can clip Joshua and have him in a lot of trouble then surely Parker can. I think if he is to have a chance there will be a stage later in the fight where he has to open up completely and make it a war. Exchanging with AJ while being somewhat open himself. I don't think he is going to be willing to do this.
Here go the "he can't beat Joshua's stiff ass but he can beat Wilder" posts, lmao. Parker can outbox Joshua and even ko him. And that is trolling. He has the skills to do it, but does he have the intestinal fortitude is what we have to find out.
Deal is very close now- https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other...eal-with-twickenham-and-cardiff-on-the-agenda