Paul "Pay-Per-View" Parker

This mysterious 27 year old cruiser makes his first big step up - and US television debut - tomorrow night in a FS1 main event, taking on Vyacheslav Shabranskyy. A first baby step toward making good on his moniker - if he doesn't go tits-up.

His amateur record isn't stellar - he won about 60% of his matches and didn't enjoy any great tourney success to speak of. His best scalp is Jerry Odom, now a 13-1 (12) super middleweight in the pros. The biggest name he faced is Marcus Browne, now a 15-0 (12) light heavyweight, and Browne shut him out under amateur scoring.

Shabranskyy is the #1 rated Ukrainian @ 175lbs, and BoxRec's computerized system places him at #6 p4p, but most observers consider him a TV-friendly but fairly limited fighter compared to many of his countrymen, with most of his successes thus far owed to his physical superiority over his opponents (he's very large for LHW). In truth he may not be top 15 p4p.

While the 6'3" "Lion Heart" is liable to get exposed long before reaching the cusp of world class recognition, it remains to be seen at what level exactly he'll top out. There is precious little footage of "Pay-Per-View" (somewhat ironically) but he is even taller at 6'4", lean, athletic, crisp offensively and with seemingly relentless instincts and sound fundamentals.

Good action is the only guarantee, but within 24 hours questions regarding both men will be answered. Namely - is Parker any good? Enough to provide a test for Shabranskyy, or maybe defeat him?

 

Well, he's a pretty good 1½ round fighter anyway. :yep

...and I was right, Shabby ain't going far.

 

Technically, anyone for whom FS2 is part of their cable subscription package had to pay to see him, so he was in a sense a "PPV" commodity last night. :conf

 

Broner?

 

Up there with Khan's, yeah.