Comments Thread For: Joseph Parker Edges Carlos Takam In Heavyweight Title Eliminator

[Tom Cruise]

Why is carlos takam so overrated?

Because he ud an old Thompson?

So did Malik Scott

Because he went to war with povetkin?

So did Marco Huck

and he DIDN'T get KTFO

He had a 50/50 fight with Perez, beat TT and gave PED version of Povetkin a hell of a fight before being stopped.

He is a solid contender. Probably around no.10 in the world.

[Tom Cruise]

Another thing i wonder abojt with this fight, what were the weather conditions?

Both guys and the ref looked absolutely drenched in sweat and both looked shattered much earlier on than we are used to seeing (Parker has done 8rnds pretty comfortably and Takam is a 12 rnd fighter).

I suspect high humidity and heat... But thats just a guess

[joe strong]

That was a tough fight to score. The british commentary was on Parker's nuts for sure. It was a close fight. I ticked off 6 rounds being close that could go either way. Rounds 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 & 11 could go to either guy. Parker only clearly won rounds 2, 3 & 10. Takam clearly won 5, 9 & 12. This fight looked more like Takam lost it himself than Parker beating him. takam gave away a couple of rounds. He always comes forward throwing punches but a few times in this fight he was backing up. Parker must have some pop in those shots. This fight could of went either way on my card. Takam doesn't have great power & his shots were too wide. Parker dug deep & showed heart but he was clearly gassed in the 2nd half of the fight. That was a big step up for Parker but it wasn't the coming out party he expected. Takam let this fight get away & there was no way he could afford to give away rounds like he did fighting in Parker's backyard. If this wasn't in NZLD I could of seen Takam getting a 115-113 win. The result of this fight was due more to Takam's moments of inactivity than Parker controlling the fight. Parker will learn from this but the question has to be asked. What if that were Haye in there throwing punches when he was gassed & hanging on the ropes? What is with Dillian Whyte? His best win is over a 40 year old Brian Minto & he is saying how he could take out Parker. He called Takam down too. What exactly has Whyte done? He landed 1 shot on Joshua & he talks like he is a force in the HW division. He's drug cheat who landed 1 shot on a still unproven HW in Joshua.

[Someone88]

WOW! That was an entertaining fight, Takam did well. That was a learning experience for Parker and an excellent win for him!

[BrometheusBob.]

Decent performance against a decent opponent, but I'm not sold on him. Wouldn't be picking him to beat Joshua if that is in fact the fight that he gets next.

[Baltimore]

Decent performance against a decent opponent, but I'm not sold on him. Wouldn't be picking him to beat Joshua if that is in fact the fight that he gets next.

Exactly how I feel.

I don't see enough to say he would beat any of the big name heavyweights (Joshua, Wilder, Wlad, Ortiz, Fury). If he does indeed get Joshua next then I think Joshua KOs him. I don't like how he responded to being pressured (and half the time Takam was pressuring he wasn't even throwing).

[juggernaut666]

He had a 50/50 fight with Perez, beat TT and gave PED version of Povetkin a hell of a fight before being stopped.

He is a solid contender. Probably around no.10 in the world.

Ranking fighters now is tricky more than ever now one has to take into the dangerous factor because most have not fought each other.Im not so sure Takam is top 10 besides Thompson his best win is an old Botha who had around 5/6 losses in his last years. Based on his long career its not much to go on . Joshua / Klitchko/ Fury / Wilder / Povetkin / Haye/ Ortiz/ Pulev /Parker/ Stivern / Breazeale / I would have more of a THREAT at this stage .If you take awat the champions then i guess hes in the mix . Im not even sure if i would have Takam over Mansour Szpilka or jennings. Whyte is also a question mark i would have that 50/50 .

[The plunger man]

Watched the fight...very one dimensional from Parker and his power seems to be lacking as he's going further up in class...wouldn't last 4 rounds with Joshua I'm afraid .....one fundamental difference between Joshua and Parker is ....as Joshua's opponents improve he also go's to another level...Parker seems to that extra bit you need as you step up..... He needs to go to the states or the uk to improve his game because if he stays in New Zealand then he won't make the transition....need a good trainer that's for sure

[TheCell8]

I give him major props for a huge step up in competition this early in his career. I thought he also edged the fight about 7-5.

He's still about a year, maybe two, away from being a serious title contender. But there is room to grow and he took a big step forward.

[sicko]

Parker will be fine, great test for him physically and mentally excellent back and forth action from both. Remember these are HEAVYWEIGHTS not Welterweights and they went 12 Rounds basically going back and forth most of the fight.

I like what I see from Parker when facing adversity, when he got caught when a good shot he would let his hands go and try to get his revenge. Was on the ropes too much though making it easy for a tired Takama to find him. I don't see young fighters Turning their opponents on to the Ropes, they just lean on the ropes and cover up I see this often. This was the down fall of other young fighters like Amir Imam, Antoine Douglass, Sadama Ali and others who just decided to lean against the ropes and Crumbled instead of clinching or spinning their opponent. Out of the young fighters Lomachenko is MASTERFUL at TURNING HIS OPPONENT!

Parker is only 24, of course he has some things to work on but I see more positives than negatives, he will only get better