Nah...he was a naive fresh faced kid still eating burger king for breakfast and trained by a shonky grifter.
Prime AJ couldnt put a dent in him and needed the refs help to win.
And Usyk sure as fück aint knocking him out either!
Parker has fixed his left hook recently which he used to slap with. That's important, particularly when fighting a southpaw.
But he is still very low output...even lower output than he used to be and seems to not have the stamina to really put guys away. I really can't see how he would keep up with Usyk for 6 rounds, let alone 12.
I think Kabayel would have a better chance.
Still, I would love to see both fights. If Usyk beats those two then he truly has cleaned out the division.
What has Andy Lee done as a trainer?
Why don't you ever answer lol (we know why really)
Parker definitely throws his left hook better, and is much better in the clinch than he used to be.
He's still very low output though so I don't see him beating Usyk. And I think Kabayel is the better fighter.
Disagree, Usyk is the same fighter as he was 2 years ago, Dubois however in this fight will be the first confident fighter in good form that Usyk has faced at heavyweight.
Don't believe me? Look at the form that AJ, Fury and Dubois 1 were in when they fought Usyk, they had all been looking terrible in their recent fights.
Dubois is on good form and confident, it's a challenge Usyk hasn't seen yet at heavyweight.
Usyk was already well past his prime 2 years ago. His absolute peak was in the Briedis-Gassiev era, when he was fighting 4x a year and was a world class athlete.
As a heavyweight his peak was in the first AJ fight. Ever since then the UK promoters have been desperate to age him out and kill him with inactivity, the same thing they're trying to do with Parker and Kabayel now.
Since then Usyk has been fighting once or twice a year, has slowed down significantly and yet he still beat the crap out of Fury, AJ and Dubois even as an old man. His feet are noticeably slower and his punch output has faded and he is showing some signs that the silk sheets are starting to get to him.
He will still probably beat Dubois because he is simply from a different class of boxer and athlete than Dubois.
Cue the Mighty Oilskin Parker and Shifu Andy Lee.
Parker would be the most accomplished pure boxer Usyk will have faced as a heavy with a coach that will have studied Usyk for every concievable weakness and developed a plan to exploit it.
It will be a game of pugilistic chess between honourable fighters and gentlemen.
I don't think Parker has the stamina to keep up with Usyk. Would be gassed after round 5 like he normally does against the higher output fighters.
You can't do what you can't do. Dublin wasn't going to defeat Usyk boxing and counter punching. I think Dubois would have had to channel his inner Chisora to give himself the best possible chance.
Easier said than done but I think Daniel's best chance was to get physical and body Usyk up whenever possible. Physical strength being the only advantage Dubois possessed.
I honestly don't even think he has that advantage. Usyk is a wrestler and extremely strong in the clinch. He was easily throwing Fury of him who is usually a bully in the clinch.
Andy Ruiz is such a disappointment. Every time watching his fights those blistering combinations and front foot counter punching is so nice to watch.
Heavyweight division is pumping right now and he's missing in action. Why isn't he screaming out for a fight with any of the top guys or prospects.
Just no dedication to the sport.
I expect Parker to win this fight but a Wardley win wouldn't shock me in any way.
I believe Parker is still the same fighter he's always been, he will have a big speed advantage over Wardley but he's very hittable, can go down, can be stopped and I don't think he's technically as good as Justis Huni so Wardley should be able to land a bit easier.
Additionally Wardleys previous fight he was preparing for a big stiff lump in Miller and then it got changed to a totally different fighter on relatively late notice so yeah..
It's a good fight.
Agree with all of this.
Parker is favourite on paper but I have some serious doubts about him. Fabio Wardley is someone who I have doubted every step of the way, but power matters in the heavyweight division.
Wins over Justis Huni and David Adeleye are nothing to be sneered at. Adeleye just went 12 rounds with Hrgovic. I know that Parker was known for his speed, but he only ever had hand speed and actually has always had slow feet. Hence the likes of Joyce could catch him.
To me Parker is looking old and frail. The muscle he has put on hasn't disguised what he looks like when he takes a punch.
He should still beat Wardley but there's a distinct possibility that this is a career ending loss for him.
I had that 6 rounds a piece.
But I had the first fight for Bivol, so I think this is a reasonable result.
Either of these guys wipe the floor with Benevidez.
Prime Usyk is the Usyk who narrowly beat Mairis Briedis in a criminally underrated fight that should go down with Bivol-Beterbiev as one of the highest level fights of the modern era.
That fight is 8 years ago. Usyk has been declining since then and still schooled Fury twice, despite being clearly in physical decline.
Fury has built an entire career of only fighting people that he has a speed and coordination advantage over. He never wanted to fight Usyk, but the Saudis made him an offer he couldn't refuse. He has never fought the more mobile and coordinated top heavyweights of the division - e.g. guys like Parker, Michael Hunter, Agit Kabayel, Hrgovic etc. because he knows that those guys would give him his toughest fights. Instead he dines out 3 x each with Dereck Chisora and Deontay Wilder.
He would never beat any version of Usyk.
Couldn't agree more.
It also leaves a bad taste to reward Dubois for pulling out with getting a shot at undisputed.
My preference would be Kabayel vs Usyk, and for Parker to get his shot at Dubois.
TBH, I'm not sure. He's got a slight reach advantage and he's younger, but his gas tank wasn't that great at his fights at 175, certainly not better than Beterbiev's in either fight, and his power hasn't carried up either. He walks to his opponents, so I don't see him doing a better job cutting the ring than Artur, his volume is lower, etc. Basically everything he does, Beterbiev looks like he does better.
IF he can cut better than Beterbiev, I think he's a bit better at body work, and maybe his defense and accuracy will be better? He's probably a bit faster than Beterbiev. And I like that he uses guard strips to land his offense; that could be effective vs Bivol's high guard if he can get in range to do it.
But, frankly, the saying "styles make fights" to these eyes doesn't look good for him, because his style is to literally walk after his opponents with a high guard, absorb their shots on his guard, and then open up and try to wear them down. Zero stoppages at 175 doesn't bode well to his ability to be more of a threat than Beterbiev, especially since he likes to hook, and that's not a great recipe for success vs a guy who uses predominantly straight punches on the back foot, never lets you rest because he's got the gas to go high volume for 12, and does so every fight. Bivol is probably the hardest guy to pin down on the ropes in all of boxing.
Benavidez just doesn't have the work ethic to keep up with either of the Russians. He maybe has the potential if he did have the work ethic, but I can't see him winning more than 4 rounds unless the judges have been slipped some PBC envelopes under the table. That seems to me to be the most plausible reason for Benavidez' promoters to want the fight in the US... PBC has a long recent history of refs and judges looking corrupt as hell, such as Rolly getting gifted a title shot at 140 coming off a knockout loss at 135 and with zero fights in the division, then getting gifted the win without landing a single shot in the flurry that ended the fight, clear to the most recent Tank Davis not getting so much as a knockdown ruled when he blatantly took a knee and then got illegal corner assistance in the middle of a round.
Agree so much with all of this.
I also think Beterbiev himself would eat Benavidez alive.
I guess the difference is that I'm from Pasifika and residing in Aotearoa. New Zealand is this Brit colony that still kowtows to the Crown.
You are aware that Maori/Pasifika culture and heritage is based on whakapapa which is duh...GENEALOGY.
And i couldnt give a fück if your creeped out. By the same token, most white guys creep me out.
there's a big difference between whakapapa and straight up racial superiority tropes.
Being proud of your ancestors is great.
obsessing over racial heritage and genes is weirs.
Parker has been written off since day one when he beat Fat Andy fairly and squarely.
He's been jobbed of a strap by AJ and a decision by Whyte who have ducked him for a rematch ever since.
He ended the Wilder hype train and took the best Zhang had to offer, got up and outboxed him to end that myth as well.
While Doobie is presently full of beans, Parker will be the best boxer he's faced excluding Usyk.
Only thing inevitable is Parker earning a shot at a 2nd title and me supporting my Pasifikan bros through thick n thin.
For one people from tiny island nations we have a claim to produce the best fighters. No hype, no bullshït, no luck involved. Just blessed with fast muscle twitch, dense bones, big hearts and a true warrior heritage.
Dubois is spesh too but in a needy way that makes him vulnerable to mental lapses which will prove his undoing against The Mighty Oilskin Parker...imho.
Disagree with most of this.
Parker's 3 best wins are when he outboxed/slightly outworked the 3 lowest output fighters in the entire heavyweight division: Wilder, who throws about 1 punch a round and oblh has one punch, Andy Ruiz who is short and has slow feet and gases halfway through a fight, and Zhang, who has a heart attack if a fight goes past 5 rounds.
He did not beat Joshua and frankly the ref j. That fight did as much of a disservice to AJ as he did Parker, given that AJ is actually a better inside fighter than Parker (who is terrible on the inside).
Do you think Fury beats Parker? I don't, but if you do then i think you're the one with delusions.
For whatever reason Fury decided to buddy up to Parker, it goes back to about the time he split with Peter Fury. At that time Hughie had a failed PED test - like Tyson, who quit - but Hughie/Peter somehow managed to avoid any penalty and attempt to job Parker of his strap in Manchester.
Here's the thing most people dont understand. Maori and "islanders" are essentially the same people in the same way that white Euros are. We don't talk about the French race or the British race and yet there is this perception that there is a Maori race distinct from other Pasifikan peoples.
If i were to take a guess though, id say its because Maori are more hybridised as a peoples in Aotearoa/New Zealand. They've lost enough fast muscle twitch and bone density that makes Pasifikans great fighters and way more suited to contact/combat sport.
dude you're weird AF and your obsession with geneology is super cringey. I'm from NZ by the way. The weird way you're talking about this stuff creeps me out.
At the time I had streaming issues for the first 3 rounds so couldn't really score it.
Just finished rewatching and scoring round by round. This might invite ridicule (wide cards always do when the fight was actually quite competitive) but I stand by it.
Overall my takeaway is that Usyk was just better and cleaner and landed body shots that seem not to be appreciated by many. Fury didn't have a high point like the 6th in the first fight (nor did Usyk like the 9th) but he looked like he was in more rounds, even if he was generally outboxed in them.
Here we go...
1 - Usyk very close. Two judges disagreed and I can live with that.
2 - Usyk - landed lots of body shots. Fury did very little until one good right upstairs from Fury but that doesn't win the round. Two judges agreed. It was a close round though.
3 - Fury - Really close. Every decent shot from either fighter had a response from the other. Fury maybe the aggressor but Usyk starting to look a bit more classy... I'll go with Fury the aggressor. Two judges agreed.
4 - Usyk - best round yet. A couple of big lefts by Usyk but Fury came back into it with a good right. I didn't think it was a hard round to score though despite all 3 judges seeing it differently. Fury moving forward and hitting gloves has merit, but not when the opponent is hitting flesh more often. Usyk up 3-1.
5 - Fury - Another good round and Fury's best yet. A great uppercut and some big body shots. Decent work from Usyk in response but not hard to score to Fury. All judges agreed. Usyk up 3-2.
6 - Usyk - big Usyk round with some eye catching big lefts including one that looked too have stunned Fury. Fury clearly starting to gas out. All judges agreed. 4-2
7 - Usyk - a bit closer but the better work by Usyk with Fury starting to back up. All 3 judges agreed. 5-2
8 - Usyk - clear Usyk round though nothing too damaging landed. Fury looking tired. All 3 judges agreed. 6-2 Usyk
9 - Usyk - I had Fury leading this round just on aggression. Both were landing similarly but Fury applied extra pressure even if it was mainly caught on gloves. Then Usyk landed some clean, effective punches in the last 30 seconds of the round to win it. 2 judges agreed - one got swayed by the glove punching. 7-2 Usyk
10 - Usyk - scrappy round. Could have gone either way on this one but Usyk did land more including one peach of a left. All 3 judges surprisingly agreed with me given it was scrappy. 8-2 Usyk.
11 - Usyk - clear round. Some great lefts from Usyk as Fury tired... throwing back hands and dropping back into the corner. One nice right from Fury at the bell wasn't enough. All 3 judges agreed. 9-2 Usyk.
12 - Usyk - clear round. Fury finally threw caution to the wind but Usyk hit him with pot shots throughout the round. Two judges agreed - one must have shown some mercy on Fury because you couldn't see that round any other way. 10-2 Usyk.
10-2 and if I allow some leeway on the close rounds I could live with Fury taking a couple more, particularly the first 2. I don't see what everyone seems to see in Round 4. He was hitting gloves while Usyk was hitting his body.
Tin hat on. Go for it. As long as you're willing to post actual reasoning on a round by round basis and not just report on the vibe of the fight, which was pretty competitive.
Yes, this is basically the fight I saw.
Only one clear Fury round, and a one or two more that he just about nicked.
I get that - like game characters where you choose to sacrifice speed and agility for power and guile - boxers have strengths and weaknesses. Parker's strength is his team.
Andy Lee and George Lockhart along with wifey Laine, his 5 kids, parents, friends and culture mean he's grounded and stable. That counts for a lot i reckon.
There's no drama like Fury's dad, Joshua's insecurity, Wilder's coach, Ruiz weight, Dubois spectrum highs/lows.
Exceptionalism is over rated. Being an adaptable all rounder with a decent beard and commitment to the craft outweighs exceptionalism.
Comparison to the real players puts Parker in a class equal to Usyk in terms of Team. In a fight id say its 50/50 and by no means would Usyk swamp him or gas him out.
Parker has/had supreme exceptionally quick hands and feet and boxing abilities. He's just always been too unprofessional to come in to fight camps fit, and has never really had the hunger you need to succeed at the highest level. He also surrounds himself with guys that he's too friendly with rather than trainers and coaches that will tell him hard facts and things he doesn't want to hear.
Case in point is George Lockhart who is a typical Las Vegas style scammer dude. Ex-marine, check. Dumb tattoos, check. Sell a glorified diet plan online for a discount price of $375, check. You could employ any random personal trainer from like any random gym around the world and he'd probably have more knowledge and actual qualifications than George. You can see the proof in the pudding - Parker is going into this training camp weighing nearly 125 kg - that's about 20kg too high for his natural weight and means that his whole camp will be about weight loss rather than fighting. What happened to this magical trainer that was keeping him fit year round? The whole thing was just a scam.
Same with Tyson Fury. Fury is the exact type of guy Parker should have been targeting to fight and who's belt he should have been aiming for - Fury has always struggled with fast, agile heavyweights and Parker would have been a tough match up for him. But nope, Parker was duped by Fury becoming all matesy matsey with him.
If Parker had truly wanted to make it to the top he needed to cut out the yes men about 5 years ago, move over to the states or the UK and have a coach who doesn't depend on him, so can tell him what he needs to hear.
Damn straight he didn't beat Joshua but he deserved a rematch given the reffing.
Don't know about yes men but Parker is a better fighter than he ever was with Kevin Barry, the ultimate Vegas grifter.
Ruiz, Wilder and Zhang are what they are and yet AJ still ducked them, except for Andy who he ran from after getting splattered by a lesser version than Parker beat.
It's actually Fury who has consistently ducked guys far more than AJ ever did.
Fury never fought anyone with decent footwork or quick hands ever since he got put down by Cunningham.
Only thing that made him get in the ring with Usyk was Turki waving a cheque in his face.
Don't know about yes men but Parker is a better fighter than he ever was with Kevin Barry, the ultimate Vegas grifter.
I'm no Kevin Barry fan (I find the dude really creepy) but is he really better than he was under Barry?
Best wins under Barry:
- Andy Ruiz - win by default after losing the early rounds and Ruiz gassed
- Carlos Takam - high level gatekeeper/genuine contender at the time Parker fought him.
Best wins under Andy Lee:
- Zhilei Zhang - win by default after losing the early rounds and Zhang gassed
- Deontay Wilder - a washed fighter who was arguably never any good to begin with.
So it's debatable whether he's actually improved.
Lol...If you're gonna keep obsessing over my every word, im'ma have to charge you rent.
I'm not obsessing dude. I like you, i'm just letting you know that it comes across as weird.
i love all of our pasifika and maori whanau. aotearoa is a pacific country after all. I'm just not a fan of jingoism.
Considering dave allen and malik scott were competetive with ortiz i think whyte may be able to do ok.
Whyte actually has skills hes not wilder who literally only has a right hand and no other boxing skill
Those were not competitive fights, Ortiz won every single round with Allen and Scott barely doing anything.
Whyte's best skill is his jab which is actually quite good. But Ortiz totally took away Wilder's jab due to his skill level and the fact that he's a southpaw. Ortiz would take away Whyte's jab then destroy him on the inside.
Qualifying for the Olympics doesn't make a better professional fighter ask Audley Harrison, Mike Tyson lost to a guy in the amateurs, but when they met in the pro-ranks Tyson demolished him.
Then we have the whole AJ won a gold medal thing, yeah... he was gifted it, he didn't legitimately beat the guy he was in the final with he had a few very questionable decisions go his way.
This is the same **** they did with Wladimir, those are/were top guys at the time of Parker beating him, in short they're good wins no need to degrade that.
Joshua work-rate is considerably lower than Parkers, Parker was having a hard time against Takam due to the slickness and precision of Takams attacks plus Parker was throwing a lot and missing, it happens...
Considering Parker was also wanting to fight AJ when he wasn't the huge PPV star that he is currently, I'd say that's an unfair thing to say. Everyone in the HW division wants to fight AJ, everyone wants to get paid good obviously that will be a part of it.
Fair enough.
I'm a Parker fan, just trying to be objective and make sure I'm being realistic.
There's two possibilities for why Parker's team deliberately left this surgery business media release until a week before the fight:
1. They're wanting to make the fight seem as credible/dangerous as possible for the point of view of the fans, so that more PPVs get sold. This is because there is a significant portion of the media and fans who don't think this is a credible fight.
2. They're trying to throw get AJ to change his game plan or get inside his head a little.
I don't think either is particularly relevant to the fight or is a successful idea, but hey, you can't fault them for trying. They're hyping the fight as much as possible, as they should. This will easily be their biggest pay day.
With all that said, Parker does have a realistic shot, in my opinion. It is a credible fight.
Yea okay, Hughie Fury landed 29 jabs in the entire fight. An average of less than 3 jabs per round. I just watched the opening round on YouTube and counted 11 jabs landed for Hughie. Those PunchStat numbers are a mystery.
Hughie barely landed a jab the whole fight.
Flicks that barely reach your opponents gloves are not scoring jabs.
Parker didn't jump out to me in the couple of fights I saw him. I might get jumped on for this but I see him as a Breazeale type fighter except with probably a better chin. Breazeale was way bigger and Joshua handled him pretty well.
Nah, I definitely see him as better than Breazeale, Whyte etc. Just not sure he's legite top 5.
I guess we'll find out tomorrow.
Wlad is one of the hardest punchers in the history of boxing. Moreover, he sets up his right hand with an excellent jab and distance control.
Stiverne is a heavyweight who hits hard but is not in the league of Wlad.
Andy Ruiz is a good fighter. Would be one of the best in the division if he was a few inches taller.
Joshua is such a fake nice guy with all that crap he's been saying. "yeah I did hurt him and I bust his eye up" motha****a you hit him with an elbow and barely landed anything significant the whole fight. You can say you won every round (I don't think so but whatever) but stop giving me this crap.
Then Wilder says something to the effect of it's a war in the ring - something every guy who's been in a boxing ring knows to be true - and you give him **** for that.
Had it 115-113 to Joshua, or perhaps a draw.
First few rounds were somewhat even. Parker won most of the middle rounds. Joshua won the last three rounds.