Why would AJ fight Wlad as a voluntary and no belts on the line? Why would Wlad fight AJ and possibly lose his ranking position with the other sanctioning bodies?
I can think of 30 Million reasons why...
Generous payday for both on 50/50 split.
Tyson was an all time great, but Lennox Lewis made him look like a little boy. Now that was a "battering".
Joshua is very good and still improving. It would have been a fascinating match up, but we will never know.
Ruiz must have done something right to get to #3 in WBO behind JP & VK.
Although if you look at his boxing CV only 1 opponent I could see in top 50 (boxrec).
To be fair, you could say similar about AJ & JP to date...
What is it with this guy... Watch his bouts.. He's slow, and without a real power punch.
He goes far to many rounds with ordinary boxers.
Maybe he's great at hypnosis..
This was apparently the first of many sparring sessions, and at the very beginning of his partnership with kevin barry, so JP was a total novice.
According to Barry, the later sparring sessions JP won every round and was never invited back.
Btw Parker has sparred The likes of Tyson fury so im not sure Ruiz has fought or sparred anyone better?
I don't think Parker has sparred Fury, but he has sparred Klitschko, who rated him, Joshua and Wilder as the future of the division.
I bet Ortiz would take that fight. Klitschko don't want that work though.
I don't get the Ortiz frenzy.. He looks slow and without a real power punch. Goes many rounds against ordinary boxers.
Maybe he has great powers of hypnosis
I don't know why there is hype around Ortiz. His last fight he looked slow, ponderous old... I bet he doesn't want to waste a minute of life, I'm 50 too, and nor do I!
Excited as a Parker fan being an Aussie and he's a New Zealander, BUT he couldn't stop or drop little Fury or Ruiz Jnr so how much power does he have?? Joshua might be chinny but we went down and recovered well last time he hit the deck. I got Joshua winning late KO or UD. Anyway, unification good times!
Yes, being a Kiwi I'm the same. Support JP 100%, but AJ deserves to be favorite in this fight.
Power, reach and accuracy favours AJ, speed and stamina favours Parker.
Makes for a great contest.
Parker & Ruiz have sparred together, which is why they knew it would be a tough fight. Ruiz, despite appearances is very capable, quick, and a hard puncher.
The lure of the Belt outweighed the risk and if he lost, at 24 (at the time), he could learn & come back.
What about boxing...?
Long time JP fan, but frustrated to see over 2yrs elapse since his last real fight and of making the same technical errors in multiple "big time" chances. Time to hang up the gloves Joe, as you aren't advancing under KB (who I'm also a fan of, but reality trump's sentiment), but you're too loyal to act in your best interest (Fury did when he realised his trainer had got him as far as he could go with him) Your static footwork and absence of head movement will only get you a win against easy beats.. Not getting hit, while still being the aggressor is the sign of a master boxer, just watch both Tyson's (Mike and Fury) bob & weave body movement on attack or defense beside a video of your own and your self honesty will show you won't go much further until you correct this. KB is not teaching you this, time to thank him and move on, or move on. If KB has your true interests at heart he would see this, swallow his ego, and help you choose someone to take you higher.
Any heavyweight fighter can land a lucky punch, especially in sparring. Unfortunately Price is more stable horizontal than vertical, otherwise he might do well.
Creepy Clown Sighting...
Bob Jones is an idiot.
His main pride in life these days is being a grumpy old man and tearing other people down... It's sad as Parker (and Barry and Duco) deserve far better.
They have collectively worked their backsides off to get Parker to this point. They are too gracious to react to this idiot.
Bob Jones, who's only achievement in the boxing world is winning a local university competition in New Zealand.. I mean wow... just wow...
I know because my Father and my Mothers Father won the same competition.
I think there are only about 5 people who box at NZ Universities, probably none these days..
For some reason, this perennial loud mouth, thinks this qualifies him to be a local officionado on all things boxing.
Personally, I'll take Barry's (Olympic Silver Medallist, trained one World Champion (Maselini Masoe), trained David Tua to a World Title fight, and rapidly developed Parker into genuine prospect) opinion and credibility over BJ's (appropriate initials..) any day!
Can some one actually tell me something positive or valuable this Self-Important loud mouth Property Developer and General Parasite has ever done??
I would like to see Joe Parker box Bellew.
I think Bellew is most famous for his mouth, not so much his fists.
How Box-Rec have Bellew at #2 behind Joshua is beyond me.
Always happens to boxers as AJ said, if you lose, your a bum, if you win, the opponent was no good, too old, carrying some sort of XYZ injury, or in sad decline...
It's impossible to please everybody.
The Fury families credibility is at an all time low..
Tyson on doping charges, stripped of titles and positive Cocaine test.
Hughie & Tyson facing Nandralone charges.
Hughies father & trainer Peter is an ex Drug Lord & standover man who did a lot of time in jail and likely won't be allowed into NZ.
Not exactly a bunch with an impeccable reputation for integrity.
This was apparently the first of many sparring sessions, and at the very beginning of his partnership with kevin barry, so JP was a total novice.
According to Barry, the later sparring sessions JP won every round and was never invited back.
Btw Parker has sparred The likes of Tyson fury so im not sure Ruiz has fought or sparred anyone better?
Also JP had a training camp with Klitschko around the time AJ did. VK praised both of their potential highly as future stars.
I don't think JP has sparred Fury.. He was invited to in lead up to TF vs VK but declined as was training for his own upcoming bouts.
Should be a fantastic match up!
A lot of people have criticised Ruiz due to his excess weight, but they will be shocked to see his physical condition on fight night...
Ruiz will be in great trim, and who better than Abel Sanchez, trainer of 16 World Champions, to be training him.
Joseph also will be in good shape. He has stayed in condition year round with multiple fights. He has also added some dynamic strength conditioning that should increase his power which was markedly better in his fight against Dimitrenko than his low power showing against Takam. He will also have home advantage and a ferociously partisan crowd.
Best Heavyweight fight of the year in my mind.
If the "sweet science" was all about muscle mass and one punch power, body-builders would rule the sport. There's a reason they don't, just as there's a reason Wilder and Joshua have only fought C Grade opponents to this point.
Padded records, ripe for a fall.
Fight will be arranged very soon
Hearing this rant, I have no doubt that Higgins & Hearns have agreed to the fight.
I can fully imagine these guys putting their heads together and saying, how can we maximise the interest and audience in this fight for free...? I know, you make a statement saying we're ducking you, and that we're fakes & frauds and the press and social media will lap it up, then we'll sign the deal and our marketing work will have been done for us... Brilliant!
I have yet to hear a trainer come out and say "we're not likely to win, but we'll give it a try anyway.."
If the trainer won't back you with confidence for a win, they shouldn't be in your corner..
That said, Ruiz looks pretty quick and all heavys have a shot at putting a combo that works together.
I can't see too much calibre in Ruiz opponents list to date though.
Artful Dodger
Hughie might be better named the artful dodger. His main focus is not getting hit as his pillow hands couldn't knock over a granny on sedatives. If you want to watch a yawnful borefest settle in with some no-doze and watch some Hughie bout replays. He makes Klitschko's reign of defences look exciting.
He has as much chance of ruling the division as Elvis does.
This will be an interesting bout. I'm picking AJ to win, but wouldn't be too surprised if Takam won.
I think he's similar to, but better than Dillian White, so will test AJ.
Lost respect for AJ
Joshua makes a whole lot of noise about unifying the belts and how important it was for boxing and the fans, then Parker Team put a very fair and reasonable offer on a platter for them and they won't accept it...?!
I'm an AJ (and Parker) fan, but lost some respect for AJ over this.. Take the fight.
Now he's renounced the Traveller Community & become Gorja-Tys, he has to get a job.
Newsflash: Gorja-Tys has given up boxing and is training to be an Accountant. He feels it is a better occupation to integrate him into his adopted community.
I think this fight has a small chance of going ahead, so I hope Team Parker have got a good plan B. I'd hate to see Joe become another dormant Heavyweight fighting once a year or so.
Hughie (and Tyson) both have to have their hearing over their simultaneous positive test results for Nandralone.
They have blamed "contaminated meat", but I think the authorities will see through this.
Unfortunately, the Fury family has little credibility or integrity, with Tyson's antics, Hughies father and trainer Peter's historic drug charges & resulting prison time and now Hughies positive drug result.
If the boxing authorities want to keep boxing above the MMA drug fiasco, or degenerating even further to WWE pantomime level of not even attempting to disguise endemic drug use, they're going to have to show zero tolerance to drug cheats.