Joseph Parker Did The Knockout Thing Against Faiga Opelu, So That Was Nice
It wasn’t exactly Millennium Stadium with nearly 80,000 fans roaring on. Joseph Parker’s thirty-fifth professional boxing bout was a subtle affair that didn’t at all compare to the heights of his career. A Wednesday night scrap in Melbourne against a local Aussie heavyweight, for which he didn’t even have his own promoter... at best we can say it was a keep-busy fight. At worst it was a concerning hint about Parker’s diminishing relevance in the division.
But you know what? Take care of what you can control and let the rest of the cards fall where they may. Joseph Parker’s first round knockout of Faiga ‘Django’ Opelu was about as emphatic as JP victories get. He dropped the bloke after 86 seconds of action. You have to go back to 2015 to last find Joe Parker getting a first round stoppage and that was in his pre-legitimacy days when he was still battling away at Duco Fight For Life events. Since graduating into the serious stuff with his win over Carlos Takam, JP has now fought 17 times with a 14-3 record. Of those 14 wins, here’s the knockout-to-decision breakdown...
Knockout Win: Solomon Haumono, Alexander Dimitrenko, Alexander Flores, Alex Leapai, Shawndell Winters, Faiga Opelu
Decision Win: Carlos Takam, Andy Ruiz, Razvan Cojanu, Hughie Fury, Junior Fa, Derek Chisora x2, Jack Massey
Most of those knockouts were against the weaker blokes. They were also generally KOs of the wear-’em-down variety where his superior boxing skills were the difference rather than some kinda obscene burst of power and physical dominance. This was different. This was Joe Parker showing a ruthless urgency and also a bit of crunch in his punches, destroying an opponent at the first opportunity. It’s a side of him that we’ve simply not seen before at any sort of relevant level.
It’s also a side that we shouldn’t get used to. He’s not suddenly, 35 fights into his pro career, going to turn into a completely different fighter. That’s not how this game works. Nor does Opelu – despite his big win over Hemi Ahio last year – compare in any way to the guys that Parker is trying to get back into contention to challenge again. Note that when the standard ‘who do you want next?’ questions were sent his way, and his trainer’s way, and Tyson Fury’s way... they threw up the trio of names that Parker has lost to in the past: Anthony Joshua, Dillian Whyte, Joe Joyce. There’s not much point in any of those three taking on a Parker rematch but keep busy and work up the rankings, you never know what might come his way. Joe Parker isn’t really a title challenger but he is still a top ten heavyweight and that’s a reputation he wants to re-establish.
We shouldn’t overreact to this result but we should give credit where it’s due. Parker squeezed as much juice out of the Melbourne fight night as there was to get. He’s now got a sneaky highlight to tack onto future hype vids. He’s also got some confidence and momentum to help him into his next effort, which is likely to be in July. It ain’t like he really exerted himself here, after all. Then, according to the team’s plan, he’d like another one later in the year. JP wants to stay busy. That next date probably won’t be anything special but the one after that could yet be against a decent name.
Not only was this his earliest KO for several years, it was also the lightest that Parker has fought at since the Joshua fight in 2018. He weighed in at 108.8kg which is pretty funky because one of the things he’s seemed to really emphasise since that defeat is tacking on muscle/weight. He came close to this mark on the scales when he battled Junior Fa but against Joe Joyce last September he tipped ‘em at 115.8kg which is the heaviest mark of his career. The intent seemed to be to bulk him up in order to tangle with these bigger opponents, and also maybe to give him an extra jolt of power, but instead it dragged him. Even in his victories his performances were rarely better than solid. Opelu is a smaller fella so JP could afford to shed some pounds but this much of a difference could only be deliberate.
Prior to this bout, Parker said he reckoned he was in the best shape he’s been in for a long time coming off one of the best fight camps he’s ever had. A big reason for that seems to have been American nutritionist/strength and conditioning coach/team chef George Lockrose, a former US Marine who has worked with plenty of combat sports A-Listers... including Tyson Fury. What Parker says before a fight and what Parker does in the ring don’t always correlate... but in this case his words were prophetic. We saw a trim, sharp, fit Joseph Parker. No covid in his preparation this time. No sneaky injuries. Everything was aligned nicely towards success and that’s what we got. Again, that doesn’t mean it’ll translate against stronger opponents. However it’s something to at least take note of as Joe moves forward.
As is this situation with his lack of a promoter. Having come up with Duco, he split off (as Lonergan and Higgins also split off) in order to target the UK scene where most of the top hitters – and also most of the money – happens to reside. That led to a deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Sports yet throughout that collaboration it never felt like they treated him as anything other than a backup in the stable. Obviously he wasn’t gonna compete with Anthony Joshua’s pull but Matchroom just simply didn’t seem to have Parker’s best interests as a priority. The fact that he never quite latched onto the British audience probably had a lot to do with that. In an era of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, Dillian Whyte, and several other bruisers... this quick-handed, low-power pugilist from the Pacific just wasn’t box office enough.
So he moved to Ben Shalom’s BOXXER where he could remain on the English scene as the top dog in his stalls... except that despite the announcement last June claiming a “new long-term deal”, he lasted only one year and two fights with them. Admittedly the two fights were the loss to Joe Joyce and a buzz-less win over Jack Massey... but still.
Parker does have manager David Higgins whispering soothing words in his ear so it’s not like he’s adrift without a paddle here. He took this Opelu fight without a promoter in his corner, though the overall event itself was organised by No Limit Boxing, run by the Rose brothers - George Rose being a cult hero ex-NRL fella... because Aussie boxing and rugby league are oddly intertwined (plus there were a couple of AFL blokes fighting each other on the undercard). It was his first ever fight in Australia and a very different scene to what he’s been used to lately.
On that topic, Tyson Fury flew halfway around the world to support his bro Joe. That was nice of him. He popped up at the press conference (despite the jetlag) and the Aussie media absolutely loved it, drooling all over the lineal champ. Sneaky theory: Fury did throw out some feelers about one day perhaps fighting in Melbourne so it may have also been a business trip and that may, considering their close connections, have had something to do with Parker testing the waters. No dramas there – a Fury fight in Oz would go bonkers and Joe could easily weasel onto the undercard in reciprocation. There’s lots of talk about Fury vs Dempsey McKean right now (nothing’s ever sorted until the contracts are signed when it comes to Tyson Fury tbf).
Speaking of the unders... David Nyika kept himself busy on Wednesday night at the Margaret Court Arena too. Earlier in the evening he moved to 6-0 with a TKO victory over Louis Marsters, getting the enforced stoppage in the fourth of five cruiserweight rounds. Sweet as. Although this, low-key, was an even stranger fixture than the Parker one.
That’s because Nyika has already fought Marsters before. He stopped him in the second round on the Gold Coast last July. But Nyika’s in an awkward spot as a rising talent who isn’t yet on a level to take on ranked opponents yet is good enough that unranked guys don’t want a bar of him. Nyika’s independent streak probably counts against him as well. He’s a risk to the records of signed up-and-comers so their promoters seek to dodge him and he hasn’t yet cultivated his own powerful connections. The only chap they could find to step into the ring with him on this night was a guy who had nothing to lose because he’d already lost to him before.
Marsters was better this time, pacing his aggression so as to get deeper into the bout. But when Nyika had seen off all his tricks and fresh looks he polished him off in a hurry. The stoppage was a tad premature but it was also anticipated - things weren’t getting better for Marsters from the point that Nyika flicked the switch.
Curious to see that Nyika is still working with Aussie trainer Noel Thornberry. He flirted with the Parker camp in Morecambe but has opted to stick closer to home, working out of rural Queensland instead. Hence his last four bouts have all been in Australia... granted he does seem to be running out of opponents. But a good win nonetheless and Nyika’s going to be on that same keep-busy train as Parker is, talking about the quick turnaround and potentially multiple more fights this year. Onwards they both go, in their own ways.
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