I believe this version of Parker is the best version, I see him gaining Tua’s respect and out jabbing him with the occasional right hand, with the occasional set up, i.e. lead left hook to the body, Tua tries to throw the right hand, Parker makes him miss and lands the right uppercut as a counter, and doing stuff like that occasional, all set up at range using the jab mainly. Who wins this matchup?
a few years back i'd have said tua without much thought but parker has been impressive since. i'll answer in 5 years.
I like Parker but Tua beat 4 titlists. Though he never wore a belt, he proved he was one of the best to never win the big one.
Parker has above average durability and hes been on a nice run recently, but I remember Whyte decking him heavily with a left hook. And if Whyte can catch Parker then I certainly think Tua could catch him. But to be fair to Parker he normally has done well shaking off single knockdowns and it took a sustained beating from man mountain Joyce to actually stop Parker. I could see Parker outboxing Tua and then Tua catches him with a left hook the question is could Parker weather the storm ? I'm not sure. Like I said above Parker has above average durability and has done well recovering from knockdowns. But Tua has the power to stop any opponent from round 1 to 12 and unlike Zhang he doesn't gas after 6 rounds.
Tua: 1. Was short, with a short reach for a HW; 2. Set his feet and then punched; 3. Had slow feet; The combination of those 3 x factors left him vulnerable to being outboxed by any world class HW who could jab and move. If Parker resolved to never engage and remained disciplined and focused for every second of this fight in executing that game plan, he should win a wide points decision. Tua certainly possessed the power to take him out, if Parker lost concentration at any point, though.
Perfect match up for Parker. He could perform like Rahman or Maskaev, but he’d never get knocked out. He already edged Ruiz, who was like Tua but with better boxing ability and a worse left hook.
Parker by an easy decision. As good as Tua was, he was extremely limited, and prone to getting outboxed and outclassed in certain matchups.
