This mythical chin to start with, name big punchers he’s been in with? He was buzzed by Takam and Ruiz. This speed and stamina he supposedly has? He’s looked slow and laboured since he stepped up to world level. Power? Been found out as soon as he’s got to world level, yet people think he can knock AJ out?! Be realistic. Anthony Joshua wins via KO round 4.
I'll be shocked if Parker get's taken out that early. At the very least he's no worse than Takam and he went 10 rounds with Joshua. Even if his chin isn't Tuaesque which I am sure it isn't, he's not shown any signs of being chinny. Whyte and Breazeale took Joshua into the 2nd half of the fight and I think Parker moves better than either of them so I'd expect Parker to go at least 6 rounds. Only way Parker get's blown out so early is if he is foolish enough to trade with Joshua or freezes under the pressure.
Where was said movement in his last few fights when he was just a big slow lumbering plodding pudding?
Watching him against H. Fury ( the guy with the world record of making 50 miles running around the ring for 12 rounds ) would make everyone look slow.
He's not on the level of Fury's or even Malik Scott when it comes to movement but he moves reasonably well. He has quick feet to go with quick hands but it's not something he's totally comfortable with we saw that vs Takam, he wasn't used to being backed up but since that fight he's worked on boxing off the back foot more. But I still don't think he moves well enough to beat Joshua. He still needs to set his feet to punch, so when he's moving he has next to no offensive out put which is why he's struggled in recent fights. When he's pushed back he can't do much but then stops throws and scores but then lingers and is hit back, it becomes a tit for tat like fight so he just edges opponents like Takam, Fury and Ruiz Jr. That might of worked for him vs other opponents but won't vs Joshua, he's too aggressive and powerful for a tit for tat like fight, Parker will get ground down in that type of fight.
I expect Joshua to make this fight look easy against the best Parker. After the fight he will be labeled overated ( he's overated now BC everything is hyped up prior to this fight ) gets credit for better chin based on nothing, gets the nod for being faster and better stamina...? Really, news to me! Those claiming he's underated now will be claiming he's overated after the fight ...lol This is what fans do! He's highly overated , he's also probably better than those who KNOW he's overrated is and he'll show up this fight..LIKE Klitchko he HAS too. End of! In short Joshua won't get much credit either way, if he does win easy which he's suppose to do fans will just go back to Parkers resume, and these will be the guys picking Parker to knock out Joshua now....the trolls on here are pretty easy to spot. Lol
Underrated by the public, overrated on here. Or maybe just neither. For all those things you mentioned, there is of course the question about the elbows and the chin of both fighters. If Joshua's chin is what people say it is, which I totally disagree with by the way, and parker has more power after that elbow operation, then maybe the stars do align and Parker can knock Joshua out. Personally though, I don't buy the 'Joshua's got a bad chin' thing. Going down to David Price and Wladimir Klitschko is not a bad thing. Deonkey wouldn't hold up to either of those, even some of the great champions of the past would struggle to take a full power flush shot from either Wlad or Price. Bare in mind, Price hits like a freight train and an aeroplane all in one, and Wlad threw a perfect flush shot to put Joshua down. But what I do buy into is Parker's chin. But chins only take you so far. Your actual defense comes into it too. It's all good having a strong chin, but you still have to protect it. Parker will come forward for the full 12 rounds (If it goes the distance) in this fight, he won't defend. I think of parker as a slightly more sturdy, more powerful and more aggressive takam. The only thing Parker's chin will do is give him time in this fight. If he wants to get rid of Joshua, he's just got to find a way past that long jab of his, get up close and batter him, while taking heavy right hands from Joshua in the process. To win, parker has to take punishment. As I said, his chin is a great chin. But you have to consider defense too. He got hit by Takam and Ruiz and was buzzed because of his defense, not his chin. It doesn't matter whether your chin is made of iron or made of glass, it's down to whether you can protect it enough or not.
Hughie Fury could'nt land on Parker with his jab so why can Joshua who doesn't have jabbing skills do better? Based on Compubox (Yeah I know but humour me) Fury only landed 29 of over 330 jabs in that fight. Half of those were body jabs. Parker will swat them away and head in fast while Joshua is slowly returning his arms back to his straight up and down stance. Parker will be a stylistic nightmare for Joshua. I can't wait.
Parker is simultaneously being underestimated in another thread on this forum, https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/joseph-parker-being-underestimated.604612/unread so he has the magical capacity to be two opposing things at the same time. Which will make him a nightmare to fight. Like Schrödinger's cat but alive and with shorter whiskers.
I'll stand by my original assessment of him. He's decent. Nothing more, nothing less. I thought he lost to Ruiz Jr and just about beat Takam. In an ideal world he'd be a contender and not a belt holder. In a good era perhaps a gateway fighter to become a contender.
I would say a tiny bit under rated. He's a decent sized heavyweight, definitely has fast hands, definitely appears to have a good chin. He has enough power to KO Joshua. This is the heavyweight division, they all carry KO power. Look at what Whyte just did to Browne.
YES, he is surprisingly overrated. He has no impressive wins in his resume. Carlos Takam, Andy Ruiz Jr., and Hughie Fury are fine names, but those fights were extremely close. I'd agree that he's okay for a contender, but not a title holder.