Listening to John Scully on a podcast recently say that Parks was far and away the hardest puncher he ever faced. I'm going to revisit his bout with Reggie Johnson when time allows. Johnson could make anyone look bad. Did Parks reach his ceiling? Did Johnson expose his limitations? Thoughts?
Career cut short with HIV when scheduled to face G-Man, literally days before the fight everyone was excited for. He was one of those awesome talents coming through with Tim Littles, Roy Jones and Gerald McClellan. Each of the four were considered the next big thing by one person or another. Parks was quite flat footed and quite squat, like Lindell Holmes and Montell Griffin, but had very fast hands, great combos, heavy shots... I'd like to of seen him fight Jones, but Jones stayed well clear.
This content is protected This content is protected Looks like he had power and fast hands but as Bulldog24 stated squat stature. Didn't really see him but remember the hype about at the time. Reggie Johnson had respect for Lamar speaking about him in the Best I faced from the ring: https://www.ringtv.com/393733-best-ive-faced-reggie-johnson/ Conversely a bit of an horrible individual if you believe this article as he tried to con his way into fighting McClellan while HIV positive: His Girlfriend Samantha Clark died after Parks allegedly passed on the virus to her: https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19941007&slug=1934622
McClellan and Jones beat him because they had speed from range and evaded jabs, but Parks has as good a shot as any pretty much.
Parks had more speed than Gerald. And boy howdy, he had pop in those punches. He could really fight. I just rewatched his fight against Johnson and it was a barnburner that was even until the last 2 rounds. There were certainly fighters who were more cagey than Lamar but not many that were more explosive and athletic. Maybe just Roy.
The article gives some information about the upcoming fight with Gerald McCellan and how he apparently tried to circumvent the Nevada testing and had 3 fights while possibly knowing he was HIV positive. If the article is a smear from the reporter Mike Katz and Samantha Parks family then it's a bad way to gain vengeance on a person's reputation. Here's the word, CONVERSELY if this is the truth and if you had read the sentence and taken it in CONTEXT I said if you believe the article then even if he has turned his life around and is virtuous in later life it was a horrible attitude at the time if this is true. Thank You for chastising me on a opinion on information published by a former Boxing Reporter in a established newspaper publication. Anyway on a lighter note: Thank you for your opinion, enjoyed your analysis on Parks as a fighter and thanks to Seamus for bringing up Parks, a forgotten fighter i had not thought about in a very long time. I will be watching some of the videos on YouTube as he seems a very eye friendly fighter with considerable talent and skills.
Sorry your gonna have to spell it out to me. Am I ill informed? Just think if he had that attitude and put his girlfriend and others at risk then was pretty selfish playing Russian roulette with people's lives. Do I wish him well, an emphatic yes and people do turn their attitudes and lives around. Not spoiling for a fight with you but i can express an opinion on information about a situation. Found This from Bruce Shoenfeld: If this is true then it's not a great sell. Do I understand that he feared his career was going down the tubes after growing up in poverty and his lifeline was being taken away, then most certainly. We can reason why he might have wanted to keep his secret especially at the time as we did not have the advances in medication and knowledge we have today plus the attitudes of society. Still for me does not excuse that he could have infected more people. That to me is not a nice person or attitude. I don't wish him ill and hope he has turned around his life around. There are many boxers who have made irrational and ill-formed decisions and some downright nasty individuals in all walks of life. Also there are people who have turned things around and should be applauded for that. His trainer thought highly of him, a good fighter. https://www.poz.com/article/Down-for-the-Count-1836-6490
Have tried to get more info through NY TImes machine but nothing there, maybe some more info from a local paper if someone has access on situation and if a more recent profile and what he is doing recently or today.
Parks was a excellent fighter, but his personal life of trying to hide his HIV and still sleeping with women knowing he was infecting them is a really bad thing to do. I have read that a couple of his previous encounters (women) have since died. So Parks was an excellent fighter but stupid / thick / arrogant sexually as a person.
I think it did. He doesn't have a high guard or slip punches very well and he punches short/wide so beating him to the punch isn't that hard. Obviously Reggie J is at a technically really high level anyway. But it pretty much showed up his limitations. I still think he might have still beat McClellan employing the same brawling strategy Benn used
Parks was still a kid when he faced Johnson, who wasn't easy to look good against - and Johnson was really on point that night, as well, if I recall. Parks had room for improvement, for sure, but he had the stuff, in my opinion. He just needed to mature. I'd have liked to have seen how far he could have gone.
I agree with the above but that fight was pretty close. O'Grady, for what it's worth, had Parks winning. With a little more seasoning, he might have handled Johnson, who was very difficult to look good against. That said, his style and physical assets weren't designed for a long prime.
