WBO orders Usyk vs Parker

Well he won fights he wasnt expected to win. By definition that is overachieving.

 

Story of this forum.

 

The lyrics are pretty good for a call out. Clever

 

Many on this forum considered Parker the underdog in all of those fights, and so did most of the online boxing "experts" and commentators.

I don't think people remember how hyped Zhang and Bakole (even short notice) were.

Hell I made plenty of the Wilder fight because Parker was a 5/1 underdog, and people thought he'd get consumed by that right hand eventually.

Hell, you have some people here thinking people like Wardley or Itauma are gonna beat Parker ffs. Always underestimated.

Everyone considered him shot post Joyce loss. He's also the first ever heavyweight world champ New Zealand has had.

We're only a country of 5 million people who mainly watch rugby and cricket. That's a massive achievement for anyone here to even get to world level let alone a title.

 

I'd agree he wasn't a favourite in those fights but he was always a live dog
My definition of underdog must differ from yours I guess

 

People are going to cry like baba's when Usyk boxes his face off in a boring fight

Usyk sets a chill pace, easily wins every round. Parker just sort of stands there doing nothing.

 

But what if Parker won ? The meltdown would be next level. Actually most people would probably just play it off and say Usyk was obviously old and over hyped and Parker's not that good.

 

Yeah its always his opponents that lose, not him that wins. I think his style contributes to that though in that its not entirely obvious what he is actually doing.

Also what is the Fitzsimmons erasure, NZ has the lightest Heavyweight Champ ever.

 

He was a heavy underdog in all those fights.

People have written Parker off for years

 

Thanks for the reply. It's funny, because though we feel very differently on this, we have extremely similar views of Fury and Warren (especially on TalkQueensberry).

But again, I think we are still applying too much of today to a past situation, which leads to reducing Usyk's agency on making decisions.

First Warren in 2025 was very different from Warren 2019, 2022, and even 2023.

He wasn't the top promoter in the UK until that relationship with the Saudis was cemented on the idea he could deliver Fury for Undisputed.

He was making a fuss over the low blow because he wanted to control both sides of Undisputed and get Dubois back in position---the guy quit again off a jab. However, I don't believe Warren was ever going to blow the Undisputed fight and a burgeoning relationship with the Saudis over Dubois. I think that is highly unlikely from what we know of Warren (past to present).

Now Fury might try to, but he started doing that anyway (as you say). But we should recognize in contrast, Warren had been pulling his hair out of trying to corral Fury into big money fights. For. Years.

You might remember that he was having public meltdowns over Fury v Whyte; it just never goes smoothly for him. He then had to deal with Fury scuppering the potential Joshua fight end of 2021 (following his loss to Usyk). Warren wasn't in quite the same position as he is in today.
Warren won't have been worried about Usyk fitting in mandatories. It is Fury he was having to worry about.

And as we all know it wasn't Usyk bringing Fury to the table. It was money the Saudis had on offer that finally got Fury under control, (that and his deathly embarrassing performance against Ngannou really meant he could no longer avoid it).

If Usyk had said, I need to take care of this mandatory (either when Dubois was injured, or when Fury was injured) Warren would not be blocking Undisputed over it. Maybe Turki might have made him wait on Fury, but why would he care about Dubois.

i.e., Usyk chose the fights he wanted. And again I don't necessarily see it as a wrong decision to prioritize the bag (like a prize fighter), BUT

End of day,

There is (I believe) a reasonable interpretation of events that Usyk stalled out his IBF mandatory (Hrgovic) and tactically dropped the IBF belt to allow him to choose his next opponent and avoid the WBO mandatory (Parker). Usyk (/his advisors) have been leveraging the different orgs guidelines to allow him to do this.

The WBO champion last defended against a mandatory almost 4 years ago. The WBO established their mandatory challenger almost 3 years ago. Since then we've had Joyce > Zhang > Parker.

Dropping the belt, to tactically position pieces yet again will not be viewed favourably. Usyk needs to act like a champion or drop his belt. It's beyond ridiculous now

I hope he comes to his senses and fights Parker, for the fans and as an ATG

 

So continuation from the other thread...

Are you actually claiming that Usyk avoided Hrgovic? In the other thread, Joyce was the man you cited. I want a yes or no, here: Do you think that Usyk has been avoiding Joyce and/or Hrgovic.

If not, who is it that you are claiming Usyk has avoided?

Please, put it on record.

 

Usyk has been a great champ. Fought all you may expect.

But don't break that habit now.....

 

Hmm, here, I am reminded of the sage words of Obi-Wan Kinobi: "Only a Sith deals in absolutes."

Though in all seriousness, this is all one thread.
There have just been a few thousand words of exchanged ideas and opinions between myself, @Cyrion, and others, on the topic. Arguments have been explained (and reconsidered), in a lot of detail already.

Hopefully... I've already answered your above question.

edit: as I've said in this thread, hopefully Usyk chooses to fight Parker. I'll be more than happy for my thoughts to be considered hot air.

 

If Usyk drops the belt

I hope Parker fights AJ

 

Wait, wait, wait. I hope you mean as a possibility in the future.

Parker is interim champion and mandatory. If Usyk refuses Parker, Parker becomes full champion.

As first act as Champion, he should really be fighting either the winner of (A) or (B):
(A) Winner of Itauma (WBO#1) v Whyte
(B) Winner of Hrgovic (WBO#2) v Adeleye (WBO#9)
(C) Joshua (WBO#7) coming off a bad stoppage and 12 months of inactivity.

No, not (C). You'd be replacing one champion who didn't want to respect the ladder, with another. Joshua does not deserve another title shot.