What is Joseph Parker’s career best performance against a world level opponent?

And I'm saying that that was largely down to Kabayel, Parker had to make his own destiny by chasing fights, paying money to get opponents over to NZ and then to get his title shot him and his management bit the bullet and gave Arum a bunch of cash to make the connections. Its how the boxing industry works.

Where as Kabayel was happy to stay at home fighting cab drivers for years. He could have taken the risks and the lesser pay to go to travel and fight an opponent with a pulse, but he seemed content doing what he was doing. It took a big, bag of cash from Saudi to actually get him up from the couch and take a risk against Makhmudov. He wanted the rewards without having to take the risks or do the hard work to get there.

 

Its not on regional champs to take risks its on champs to give them title shots. Kabayel has one of the best resumes of a 1st time HW contender in the past 50 years. It usually doesn't take that much to get a shot.

 

"50 years" is a bit of a stretch there, but yes. He won the European title, fought several decent Europeans, has beaten prospects, and has beaten established world level contenders.

If one wanted, they could nitpick the **** out of his and his opponents resumes, but that can be done with anyone in the sport. Kabayel has done more than any of the latest champions before they fought for a title, bar Usyk, as he had a solid Cruiserweight resume and was considered among the P4P best.

Kabayel has done more to earn his title shot than did: Joshua, Parker, Fury, Wilder, Stiverne.

 

Parker beat Wilder when he was on the way down. Beat Zhang but got dropped twice. Beat Bakole on short notice. Competitive win vs Ruiz. Not close vs Joshua. Stopped by Joyce. Lost to Whyte. Should've lost to Chisora the first time.

 

Joshua knocked out Klitschko and Povetkin. 2 guys Parker wouldn't. Joshuas win over Parker is better than every Parker win. Joshua Kod Whyte, a guy Parker lost to. Would be surprising if Joshua struggled vs Derek Chisora but I guess it's possible cause look at the Ruiz fight.

 

The truth !

 

Who has Parker avoided? He's been chasing the best fights available for years and recently got ducked by Dubios and it looks like Usyk is trying to swerve him too.

 

Pick any heavyweight and you can make a similar argument.

 

Not really..

 

The fact you didn't immediately have an exception in mind kinda proves my point.

 

I agree that Kabayel deserves a title fight and that he has fought enough opponents to deserve one compared to historic challengers. But he hasn't done more than Parker currently. With a few small things different I could see how he would be in front, but the way the dice have fallen Parker is deservedly first in line.

The thing that Kabayel needed to do more off of the Chisora win, he had great momentum from that but just let it fizzle out. The reality is that if a fighter isn't from the US or UK they need to go that extra mile and make sacrifices and take risks to get into title contention. Which Kabayel wasn't willing to do, he was content fighting lower tier boxers at home until the Saudi bag came along.

 

Fully agreed. For me its: Parker, Dubois, Kabayel.
It´s such a shame that the Dubois vs Parker fight fell through. Why I want to see Kabayel get a title shot is because hes a fresh face in the division. The last 5+ years have all been about Wilder, Fury, Joshua, and Usyk. Personally, I am kinda tired of it. Dubois has been a good addition to the title scene.

IBF for example:
2024-12-21 Oleksandr Usyk 226 W-UD Tyson Fury
2024-09-21 Daniel Dubois 248½ W-KO Anthony Joshua
2024-05-18 Oleksandr Usyk 223½ W-SD Tyson Fury
2023-08-26 Oleksandr Usyk 221 W-KO Daniel Dubois
2022-08-20 Oleksandr Usyk 221½ W-SD Anthony Joshua
2021-09-25 Oleksandr Usyk 221¼ W-UD Anthony Joshua
2020-12-12 Anthony Joshua 240¾ W-KO Kubrat Pulev

Kubrat Pulev in 2020 is the last mandatory title defense, and the last random title challenger. Thats how far back you have to go to see someone different challenging for the belt.
It´s been a circle jerk of same guys fighting each other over and over.