Parker weighing in at 267 lbs

I knew Parker was planning on coming in heavy but even so to see the actual weight laid out bare like that is still kind of a shock.

I just don't understand why HWs do this. It's always beneficial to stick to the weight that works for you. Usyk never fluctuates and he should be the gold standard every heavy tries to emulate if they have any ambition to be the best. Parker's best results have come in when he was in the 240s so that should be the weight he should aim for every fight out. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I think all this "functional weight gain for added strength and speed" stuff is usually a load of hot air when it comes to actual performances on the night.

Luckily for him Bakole will probably come to the ring looking like this:

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This. If Dubois didn’t get sick, he was on his way to winning the Parker fight comfortably. WTH, Parker? You’re better than this.

 

I read this article on Yahoo just a couple days ago:

"The 33-year old was initially meant to meet Zhang in a rematch, and so began an experiment. Lee, also Tyson Fury’s assistant trainer, and George Lockhart, an American performance nutritionist, chef and strength and conditioning coach, sat around a table and hatched a plan. They would build Parker into a much bigger athlete. Over several months Parker gained over two-and-a-half stone.
“The reason was to maximise his size and power, without sacrificing Joe’s mobility and speed,” Lee told Telegraph Sport."

"Eventually, they got to Parker’s optimum weight for the size of his 6ft 4in frame. He climbed from 17st 10lb to 20st, said Lockhart.
Lee was hugely impressed by the experiment, and it has paid dividends. It was announced that Parker would be fighting Dubois for the IBF heavyweight title in Riyadh on February 22. Dubois, who was forced to pull out of the fight on Thursday through illness – with Bakole stepping in as a late replacement – had destroyed Anthony Joshua inside five rounds at Wembley Stadium last September. Dubois weighed 17st 11lb for that fight.

Parker had lost his WBO heavyweight crown to Joshua in Cardiff, on points, in 2018. So from 20st, the team began the process of bringing Parker down to 18st 6lb, through Lockhart’s expertise, to collide with Dubois. The extra 1st 8lb he was carrying for the giant Zhang, they believe, was not necessary. What they want is the right size of athlete for the right fight."

20 stone = 280 lb btw.

I'm not sure what's more baffling & concerning here - the fact that he bulked up so much weight, or the fact that he tried to take a bunch of it off (while still weighing a ridiculously high weight anyway).

 

Wait, did Bakole not make it in time for the weigh-ins?
Dude is literally showing up at the last minute. What a Chad.

 

Shows how big heavyweights are now days. I heard in 2015 which was 10 years ago the average heavyweight was like 233 pounds of something.......

 

Fat fuvk or juicing

 

This is just lazy

 

You can say it's fat a lot the time as well as to do with PED's playing a role but still just putting it into context.

 

The way Parker and Andy Lee were talking throughout this whole build up I was thinking we were gonna get Muhammad Joseph Ali Parker in the same zone mentally as Ali was vs Foreman 1974 and Buster Douglas for Tyson 1990. At least I can see what this new Parker is about now without feeling the heat as Dubois is out now.

 

In boxing, putting on weight is relative to your fitness/laziness.

Nowadays fighters are lazier and overweight, not necessarily much bigger.
Parker is a good example (if this is true) he hasn’t had a growth spurt to be bigger, he’s just got fat or juiced bigger…neither are an improvement.

 

No, what a Congo.

Chad is a different African nation.

 

Parker has been "underweight" most of his career, he has never had proper S&C until recently and over trained and ate like crap to stay at his lower weight.

He is a naturally heavy guy, heavier than taller fighters like Joshua or Dubois he just hasn't had the foundational work into his strength and conditioning that those fighters have had from the beginning.

This weight will be fine on him, he will be more powerful but still as fast and will be able to manage his stamina down the stretch.

 

Wlad was seen as a big heavyweight and often labeled a weight bully too. "He only wins because of his size." Wlad was 245lbs... Give or take a few lbs as his weight fluctuated from fight to fight.
Right now in the boxrec top 20, only 4/5 guys are less than 240 on most of their fight nights. Basically everyone is either the same size or bigger than Wlad... absolutely wild. We are a decade removed from every heavyweight being 280lbs.

 

Any guesses as to Bakole’s weight?