Should Parker retire after he loses to Joyce ?

Parker has little time left

He always said age 30 was his limit. I doubt he will stretch it too far....

 

With respect, what "level of opposition"?

Even having declined a bit, Parker is clearly a level above Joyce's best wins to date.

Joyce looks like he's got the potential to climb further, but he has to prove it before it's assumed he's a really top level operative.

Even giving weight to their respective career trajectories, I give Joyce a 50/50 at best.

 

I think Joyce's wins over Takam, Jennings and Dubois pit him at worst on the level of the current Chisora who gave Parker a tough fight.

I'm not saying it won't be competitive but I was simply arguing that Parker won't easily beat him as suggested by Infivi IV. When has Parker beaten anyone easily who was as good as Joyce? Joyce may not be top level but he isn't some push over that will be swept aside like Leapai, Flores and Fa, he's surely level or two above them and so I can't see Parker beating Joyce easily.

 

Depends on Parkers motivation. If highly motivated he has a decent chance.

 

Like charles martin, parker took the fight with joshua without having a rematch clause. Fighters that do this just want a payday and dont care about being the best. They already had a title and were satisfied by achieving that goal so money that comes from non title fights is good enough for them.

 

Oh Lord... Joyce isn't fast enough for Parker. Both fairly solid chins though so it goes to the cards.

 

Agreed - Parker too quick

Very likely a Parker UD

 

He shouldn't retire, but he should be a gatekeeper type instead. He never had the makings of a top notch heavyweight.

 

Who has Joyce actually fought??

 

Will save this for future days to bring up.
The Bodybuilder Joshua was not able to " retire " him. Bodybuilder is very strong, does have excellent pre fight camps and is more versatile than Joyce.

 

Fighters don't denote themselves as contenders or gatekeepers, those are fan labels.

Also, defining Parker by the Joyce fight is, in some ways, pretty dumb because it's a foregone conclusion...
Either you already rate Joyce as a legit contender in which case Parker losing to Joyce doesn't necessarily hurt his standing.
Or you already don't rate Joyce on the basis that he's never beaten anyone better than gatekeeper level before and so you move Parker to gatekeeper in your mind because he's lost to a fighter who isn't above that level.

In truth, there's a pretty decent chance Parker wins, IMHO, but if Joyce wins a close contest in my mind that elevates Joyce in my estimation more than it diminishes Parker.

 

A great fight if it gets made.

 

I think Parker is a solid top 10 heavyweight.

Even if he loses to Joyce I still think he's got enough to beat the majority of the division. It just boils down to whether or not he's happy to play the role of gatekeeper.