Parker fought the wrong fight

I was yelling at Parker the entire time. He kept standing toe to toe with Wardley. That's idiotic. Wardley probably has the combo of chin and power among anyone who is still decent in the division. You box that guy, you don't try to take it to him. Jeez.

 

Would you suggest that is down to a lack of ring IQ from him?

 

Well I get it.

Many here criticized parker for being boring and he has a tendency for it. That's part of why he doesn't seem to get the fights he wants. Together with not being from a country with enough ppv power that's bad for his career.

To add to that: wardley always looked vulnerable.

This was 200% better than any wardley before. Even riding shots and moving like a middleweight in close distance.

So going to war with and knocking out wardley was a gameplan that might not have tended to parker's strengths.

But many here predicted that that would happen and he would succeed. And had wardley been as good as in the past few fights it would have succeeded.

And to be honest he even would have won on the cards without the british stoppage.

But all in all i think the gameplan was not only a gameplan for winning the fight but winning the audience over.

 

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Nah, it was dumbass big brother Fury convincing him that the Kronk puncher way is better. But Parker is not (today) a puncher, he’s a boxer. Whoops. Back to the drawing board. And SHAME on Andy Lee; I thought he was smarter than that.

 

It's usually easier banging out the guys who you face on the way up because they just aren't that good. Parker had enough power to do that and do it in style.

As your opposition gets better, usually they get harder to KO. Parker found that but it was further compounded because he suffered bad shoulder injuries.

Parker fought on with the bad shoulders and was forced to box more and bang less.

Eventually Parker got the shoulders right and some of his power back but he just doesn't have the power to stand and trade with the best big guys with good chins.

 

Parker has a track record of reverting to type and going for broke; he never fights to his strengths, and clearly doesn't follow his corner once he sees red. This is a huge problem. It's similar to Amir Khan in many ways. Khan was arguably the fastest boxer in the sport P4P at one stage, but he had a glass chin, so instead of working on a high guard and refining a solid amateur style where he could have real success against anyone by sticking and moving, he wanted to prove his toughness, which he didn't have, and found himself taking insane, unnecessary punishment while stumbling over the ring.

It's not as extreme with Parker because he doesn't have a glass chin, but he doesn't have a particularly standout iron chin, and if he had stuck to the basics, he would've cruised to a 12-round UD against Fabio. This is a ring IQ issue. At this late stage of his career, he only has himself to blame, really. I thought he had ironed this out based on the Zhang and Wilder fights, but he clearly hasn't learned, and at 34, he's not going to change. Retirement could be on the cards. He has had a lot of tough fights, achieved financial security, and there's no way I can see him getting another shot at all the marbles.

 

Agreed, TNS

He is nearly 34 and he would take a lot of punishment getting to the top again

Retire now with health, wealth and a lovely family

Best decision IMO

 

Parker had to stick and move for 12 and couldn’t do it. Wardley can only have won this via KO. He wasn’t going to win this on the card.

All he had to do was box but he decided to trade in the later rnds.

 

This is so true in hindsight

 

Huge misread from Andy Lee as well. He must receive some of this blame.

 

People don't understand Kronk style. When you train in Kronk style, you close the show. You don't box around. You big dawg and land dat right hand. It's understandable after developing his Kronk power that Parker would want to showcase it. And he did.

We've had a few fights now where people are saying Parker should just have fought differently and easily won. There's another explanation and that is that he's not that good, which is why he loses to B fighters. The other thing is that in order to box for 12 you have to be fit and Parker is fat.

 

He boxed big punchers Wilder and Zhang why abandon that against another big puncher. Its not like Wardley would have figured it out either.

 

It might be a bit questionable ring iq but surely not a poor show . Its a poor cooment from you .

Parker attacked with all he could give and with many other opponents this would have worked .
Somehow wardley has a chin made out of concrete and a heart of steel .

Whatever : parker deserves deepest respect for this great fight . He gave a lot to the sport and his fans , especially when he was in no need to fight wardley at all .

 

Exactly this. Wilder threw 200 punches, Zhang 270 and Wardley 430. Parker's team seemed to be under some false illusions about his gas tank and that he could carry that extra weight into a high output match up. The fact his extra power seemed neglible and he made it to Round 10 before getting caught badly shows what a disaster that strategy was. Even at 240 you'd give him a better than even chance of staying out of danger.

The other thing about Parker is he has always switched on and off within fights. He doesn't have the discipline (or power deterrent) to stick to a plan for more than 1 or 2 rounds at a time. That was hidden a bit as Wilder and Zhang simply didn't throw or land enough punches to ment