Joseph Parker vs Michael Hunter in the works

This is a genuine 50/50 fight

Both are done and it'll be interesting to see who quits first

 

I thought Hunter was going to fight in the bridgerweight division.

 

Wouldn't it be fairer to compare their achievements at similar ages? Hunter is what, 3.5 years older? So you could compare the summer of 2012 for Hunter to the summer of 2016 for Parker to align with the Olympic cycle.

 

I've never seen what all the hype has been all about for Hunter. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's a bad fighter, I just think he's massively over hyped on here.

This is a tough fight to pick. Wouldn't surprise me the slightest if it ended up a draw.

 

My point is Hunter was good enough to make an Olympics (& probably should have gone 4 years earlier in 2008) & Parker wasn't. It wasn't that difficult to make the Olympics from Oceania in 2012. Jai Opetaia qualified at Heavyweight as a 16 year old.

You could take the view that Joseph Parker has been the better professional having won a WBO world title (no-one can take that off him) but having followed both of these fighters quite closely over the course of their careers I've always been of the view that Hunter is the more skilled & would prevail should they ever meet.

Just pulling up Hunter's record he's been inactive lately & has been held to a couple of draws. Parker by contrast has been active over the same period against recognisable names. I'll stick with the bloke I've always thought would win this. I think he'll be able to pull it together & get it done against Joseph Parker.

 

Parker beats off roids looking for payday Hunter

Although i suspect Hunter would get up for a fight like this which means tough news for Joe.

Whoever musters their mojo mid-late to outwork the other wins the bout.

 

Parker is tough but he isn't that destructive or able to adapt quickly as we saw with the mostly negative Massey which is good news for Hunter but I can't say I trust him to win. Forrest is inferior to Parker in most respects but Hunter allowed him to bank rounds last time out. He's also been inactive for 14 months. Will need to be much better and hope Parker is still sluggish as he was against Massey.

 

Those are fair comments, but Parker was attempting to qualify to Super Heavyweight, not Heavyweight. So 16 year old Jai Optai qualifying at a lighter weight has no bearing on him.