Some interesting conversations going on since this loss with Joshua. It was widely expected that he would lose in this fight, I am a big fan and wasn't really sure how he was going to be able to win it at this stage. The fight put him pretty much exactly where I expected him to be skill and effectiveness wise - answered some huge questions in regards to his chin. What I am curious about is how serious a contender is he now that he is no longer a title holder? Will he be taken more or less seriously after that loss? Where would you rank him and who should he fight next?
Parker is one of the top three heavyweights in the world but struggles with really long jabs, I feel he would deal with Wilder`s jab better than he did AJ`s.
Fight went as I pretty much expected too, I think a lot of people either underrated Parker or over rated Joshua going in. Having said that I did see some positive things I liked in Parker that impressed me. His defence has definitely improved, Fury could barely hit him and Joshua too couldn't find his right hand at all last night. Parker's chin was also even better than I hoped, he never looked hurt or even stunned in the slightest. How he responded to Joshua's shots as well impressed me he fired back when he was hit and had the most success on the inside after taking shots from Joshua. Parker is no push over for anyone. In regards to his ranking... 1- Joshua 2- Wilder 3- Povetkin 4- Parker 5- Ortiz (Not going to include Fury until he actually comes back) I think Parker is young no need to rush him just yet. I think he needs to rebuild. A fight with Browne for me makes sense, been talked about for a long time, winnable too and nets Parker a decent payday not that he needs it after last night purse lol.
Parker won me over as a solid HW contender last night. He's a serious fighter, you can't bully him around. Yes he was undergunned vs. AJ but that still makes him a serious threat to anyone out there. I'd love to see Whyte, Ortiz or Povetkin vs. Parker.
Since I and many commentators predicted a much easier win for AJ, I had to vote "Raised". Parker is the first fighter to nullify Joshua's offense, something even Wlad couldn't do.
I rate Parker the same as I did before the fight. After the Joshua-Takam fight I knew Joshua wouldn't be able to stop Parker. However, he needs to improve his conditioning. Coming in at 225-230 would be better, since 236 was clearly too heavy.
To me personally it has dropped, he lost the fight, lost his 0 and lost his belt. He showed he is dangerous too, so now with no belt, no big money and being a dangerous foe what champ or contender is guna wana fight him just for the sake of it?? He is guna need to get in line and get himelf into a mandatory spot. To me thats a real set back for him. But i do like Parker and his team alot, really warmed to them in the build up to this fight and he can easily polish up on a few things you dont even know your doing badly until you are exposed or beaten and come back even better. Parker v Povetkin, Parker v Wilder, Parker v Whyte, Parker v AJ2. Id watch them all.
I think he boxed negatively and near the end was happy to see the fight out. There is room for improvement though, if he wants it. Definitely a top 5 heavyweight.
For me Parker's stock has stayed the same. He looked better as in his last couple of fights, but we (I) kinda expected he would, so no change for me there. Joshua's stock dropped a bit after that.
Rose for me. I dont know if he has this insane chin tbh because going into the last 3 rounds he was very obviously down on the cards and never "went for it". To me that suggests he felt joshuas power and didnt back himself to take anything clean (which he didnt) But defensively he was better than i thought, he was tough from what he took, his hands were fast. He has a lot of good tools but he is unrefined. A class trainer could polish him into a very useful fighter
Well, Parker's a bit in the who needs him club now, which might find him struggling to land high profile fights. On the plus side, he's proven (to himself, most of all) that he can hang with the best in the world. That'd be a huge boost in confidence for him, and should help him to bounce back from this defeat with minimal loss of faith in his abilities. His stock's risen in the mind of hard core fans who might have considered him something of a weak link in the division previously, but kind of on the fence regarding casuals. Depends on where he wants to go from here.
Yeah, Parker really showed his class. Pity he didn't go for it more or he might have become an instant fan favourite, but then he might also have been knocked out, which wouldn't have been a good look. It wasn't a wholly negative effort though, just a bit of an underwhelming one, and I think UK fans would still pay to see him fight against the likes of Whyte, Bellew etc. He should definitely gun for Whyte, IMO, if the Wilder fight doesn't materialise.
Its certainly gone up. Nobody knew who he was or thought much of him until this fight. He was ridiculously over hyped in the lead up to last night And made out to be better than he actually is.. that hype/exposure will roll over to the next few fights for Parker and no doubt give him a few more nice pay days.... Definitely risen I think..
Parker did a good job. If the ref allowed more close offence, he could have scored more and took more rounds. I was already impressed by Parker in previous fight and he did not dissapoint me.
He started well but after that was happy to survive and offered nothing in the later rounds when he needed it. He summed up his attitude in the post fight interview when he said something like "at least I didn't get dropped".