What’s At Stake For Joseph Parker Against Dillian Whyte?
Ah, quite a bit actually. Joseph Parker didn’t waste too much time in getting back on the horse after his battling but comfortable defeat to Anthony Joshua back at the end of March. Took a little time off to recover and then launched straight into the prospect of Dillian Whyte.
The four month split between fights is nothing new, it’s roughly the same timetable he’s worked with ever since beating Andy Ruiz Jr (whereas Ruiz took 15 months off before getting back in the ring after losing to Parker). But all those fights were building up to the Joshua one and then he lost it. You could easily have excused him taking six or seven months instead, or at least coming back with an easier fight or two. But nope, no wasting time over here. Straight back at it with another contender.
Dillian Whyte will be a better test of where Parker’s at than Anthony Joshua was. That fight saw him up against a bloke with more reach, more power, more big-fight experience and a whole lot more fans in the crowd. It was never going to be easy and the result, a Joshua win by unanimous decision, was probably to be expected. The superior fighter won. No shame in that, especially when you’re the first person to take him the full twelve rounds.
But this next dude isn’t blatantly superior at all. In fact he’s in the exact same realm as Joseph Parker is which should make for a very tasty matchup indeed. Safe to say that Parker got to a world title belt a lot easier than most champions, narrowly beating a fellow relatively unproven up-and-comer in Ruiz to claim a vacated belt in a division that had been swept clean of challengers after the best part of a decade of Wladimir Klitschko dominance. Put into context, the last heavyweight to defend the WBO belt more than once (Parker had two successful defences) was Lamon Brewster way back in 2005.
Parker has won three title fights already but realistically he’s not in that Joshua/Wilder tier at the top and there’s no evidence that he deserves to be either. He’s in that sorta 3-10 range below, which includes fellas like Alexander Povetkin, Jarrell Miller, Kubrat Pulev, Luis Ortiz and, yes, Dillian Whyte. Most of those dudes have already lost to either Joshua or Wilder, hence why those two are at the top. They’d all be underdogs if they fought either of them tomorrow. But against each other is a different story. You’d struggle to make a bad match out of any of them and it’s a crowded set of challengers.
That’s why David Higgins is calling this a ‘People's Eliminator’. It might not have official eliminator status (although it’s close with the WBO number two belt on the line) but whoever wins is going to be in prime position for a rematch with Anthony Joshua once he’s done with Alexander Povetkin… or Povetkin when he’s done with Joshua, as the case may be. That’s might be a tougher fight than people expect. Very hard to guess.
And that’s a lot to be putting on the line here from Joseph Parker;s point of view. You can rest assured that he’s much better chance in this bout than the English media is making out – most foreign bookies have the fight as evens or with Parker as narrow favourite, which is the way it oughta be. Parker withstood Joshua after all. He’s not always a pretty fighter but he has a knack for grinding out victories. Whyte meanwhile is more of a bruiser and he hasn’t looked as good when he’s been taken the distance, although he has been able to win all his 12-rounders so far. Like I say, this is a very even matchup.
Parker and Kevin Barry and Duco all said very optimistic stuff about Parker’s chances in a rematch with Joshua. You mighta thought they were all chat – which they often are and the thing about Parker ‘going to war’ with Whyte is proof of that, his best chance is not to turn this into a slug-off and anyway they’ve said the same thing about knocking buggers out before every single fight but he hasn’t followed through on that with anyone since the woeful Alexander Dimitrenko – but in lining up a fight as competitive as this they’re putting their money where their mouths are by trying to get that rematch as quick as possible. Tells you that they really do believe all their own hype.
Except consider for a second if old mate loses to Dillian Whyte. It’s certainly more than possible. Where does that leave him? Well, that depends on where the market lies. It might not do any damage at all if he can get straight back in the ring with a Jarrell Miller or somebody and then beat the bollocks off of him. But if Joshua and Wilder keep avoiding each other (and to be fair, it’s more Joshua avoiding Wilder at the moment – though for financial and organisational reasons more than boxing ones) then that second tier is going to get scrappier and scrappier and folks are gonna start falling by the wayside. A defeat to Whyte and Parker risks exactly that, having to drop down another level and work his way back up again - which might not come quick at all.
But still, you’ve gotta at least admire that they’re not wasting any time about it. Not pissing around and trying to milk a few extra paydays. Parker’s said he doesn’t wanna be doing this deep into his 30s. He’s on a timeline in his mind. The risk, of course, is that they rush it too much and cut a corner or two too many against a guy who you really don’t want to be taking lightly. Dillian Whyte is a very legit dude. And Parker’s gonna need to be in top condition to beat him.
We’ll just assume that’s not what’s happening though. Go get him, Joe.
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