It didn’t take a lot of sleuthing to figure out that the Parker-Haumono fight was a keep-busy affair as far as Joe was concerned. No hacking into Duco email conversations, no wiretapping their phones. I didn’t even have to don my best Humphrey Bogart trilby and long coat. Nah, it was obvious from the beginning that Joseph Parker and his team took this fight only for the sake of taking a fight.

That all made sense, this isn’t a criticism. In beating Carlos Takam the other month, Parker laid down a gauntlet. Not only was he now the mandatory IBF heavyweight challenger but he also had arguably the toughest win of he and belt-holder Anthony Joshua’s careers combined. Even if it didn’t come by dramatic knockout. Problem is, that mandatory challenge isn’t going to be called upon until at least November at the earliest – Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has pretty much said it’ll happen any time between November and April so that isn’t exactly narrowing it down. For now, Joshua is taking a rest with no fight arranged on the horizon after he decked Dominic Breazeale in late-June.

So since it didn’t make sense for Parker to take a year-long holiday, nor did he want to risk his place in the IBF ladder, meaning the Haumono fight was a little too good to turn down. A bit of Aussie vs Kiwi, a bit of name recognition that’d sell in NZ and another opportunity to fight at home – this time in Christchurch. Realistically we were always likely see him fight twice more before the Joshua clash, and Kevin Barry has confirmed that’ll be the case – the next one in October.

Don’t ask me about the undercard because I wanted absolutely nothing to do with that farce. As for the fight itself, well it wasn’t the best. Parker was pretty pensive to begin with. A few searching left jabs, wandering around the middle of the ring. Haumono was walking him about but Parker was mostly owning the distance between them and when he got the chance, he’d throw a few heavy ones back in his direction. A couple wrap-ups and nothing much else in the first. Parker’s intentions were showing through: he was looking for a knockout.

Haumono got him on the ropes a couple times in the second and Parker soon realised that he could comfortably punch his way out of there. His hands were way too quick and his strength was shining through against a fighter not quite the human boulder that Takam was. The inkling was already there from the first bell but less than two rounds into the fight, it was clear that it was only a matter of time until Parker decked him. Haumono couldn’t hurt him and he certainly couldn’t outbox him.

With that, it’s probably fair to say that Parker got a bit sloppy. Or maybe reckless would be a better word. He wasn’t impatient, bursting into trouble or anything (which Haumono probably was), but he did seem to be sacrificing the combination blows for the quick haymaker. The left jab that’s so effective for him was there but he was using it to pump the brakes rather than as a precursor to the big right that was holding back in waiting. Then he’d throw that right wildly without quite setting it up.

Late in the third Haumono did land a clean one to Parker’s jaw. Parker had copped him with at least three crunching shots that round but played it a little casual with the clock running down and maybe he ought to have stayed aggressive right to the bell. Still, this was a hard right to the jaw and Parker just rolled with it, unfazed. People wanna know if he can take a punch, well he took one.

By the fourth, Parker knew exactly what he was doing. Let Haumono come to him and then hit him hard. Midway through that quarter he led him all the way around the ring, a full clockwise rotation and a half in which he threw 16 consecutive left hand jabs. Then he stopped still, feet set firm, and followed the sixteenth left with a right uppercut that sent Haumono crashing to the canvas. After a weird situation with the ref’s count, it was called. 20-0 for Joseph Parker. A seventeenth career knockout. All roughly as anticipated.

Thank you Christchurch.. The journey continues #TEAMPARKER
— Joseph Parker (@joeboxerparker) July 21, 2016

The way it ended was strange. Referee Bruce McTavish is a highly respected officiator, a kiwi based out of the Philippines and even at 77 years old there was no question of his appointment. The dude keeps busy, he knows what he’s doing. But he bungled that count and there’s no doubt about that. The commentator, Colonel Bob Sheridan, seemed to say so, the timekeeper said so and Haumono’s camp has certainly said so – lodging a formal protest. But, like, even if Haumono had walked straight back into that fight he’d have probably just gone down again. If the manner of the result was controversial, the result itself was not. Hey, Haumono has a career to preserve. If he can argue that he still might have won then he can wriggle himself a few more fights of note (a heavyweight title fight is not in that conversation).

Okay, so the usual question after a Parker fight: Is he ready for Anthony Joshua? Yeah, hard to say. The thing is, beating Haumono probably doesn’t change anything. In leaking a few punches through he’s given weight to the argument that Joshua’s sledgehammer power is gonna end things in the same familiar way that every one of AJ’s pro fights have ended so far. Haumono was able to get him a couple of times and if a harder hitter had that opportunity, things may not have been so smooth.

But that might not be the best indication. Parker was looser here because he’d figured that Haumono couldn’t really hurt him with a single punch so long as he didn’t do anything overly stupid himself. If he’d have respected the fella opposite a little more then he wouldn’t have been as casual with the jab, allowing Haumono to get in close enough to catch him – and the other thing was that the fight only went three and a half rounds. We already saw in the fourth that he was making the adjustments to counter some of that. Plus his speed was such that he could work his way out of a jam pretty effectively so again it didn’t really matter. And his fitness, compared to Haumono’s… I mean, you’re doing a disservice to compare them at all. 40 year old Haumono was puffing in the early rounds. No contest.

But Parker is still going to be the underdog against Joshua whenever they eventually meet. Whenever it happens there are always going to be concerns about his weaknesses – because it’s going to be a step up and that’s how those go. For one, even if he manages combat Joshua’s strength it’s still hard to see how he beats him. Could he outbox him for a decision? He probably could, you know. Except that Joshua’s never been beyond four rounds as a pro. AJ can hit much harder than JP and the only way to find out if Joe can roll with that level of punches is to see it in the ring.

Luckily, Joshua isn’t this impenetrable force. He’s been troubled once or twice in the past and, honestly, his list of opponents isn’t that far removed from some of the battlers Parker once saw and conquered. Both Joshua and Parker are untested heavyweights compared to, say Wladimir Klitschko and even Tyson Fury. They won’t get that test until they meet each other, probably early in 2017.

Oh, and the other thing that too many people seem to overlook is this: It’s okay if he loses to Joshua. That won’t be the end of his career. In fact most great fighters in history have lost important fights, you’re looking at an incredibly short list of legends with zeroes in the L column. Even if he isn’t fully ready when that bout comes around he owes it to himself to take it. The lessons he’d learn even in a loss would be enormous, and at his age he has plenty of time to work his way back up. He’s ahead of schedule already as it is.

Kevin Barry says they’ll announce Parker’s next fight on Tuesday which tells you a few things. First of all that they’re not planning on getting to Joshua this year – which also suggests that Joshua might have another bout before then too. It also suggests that this fight has been in negotiations for a little while and therefore probably won’t be anyone too special. I could be proven wrong there. That fight is expected to be in October.

An ideal situation would be to take on an ersatz Anthony Joshua. A power puncher with knockout ability that’ll hit Joe hard and get him ready for the combat to follow. There are more than a few of those out there in the boxing world to choose from. Now, the most exciting matchup would be for Parker to take on Charles Martin, the man who Joshua beat to claim the IBF belt, just to really make a statement. Sadly, that’s unlikely to happen since Martin’s currently on a break and not expected to fight again until November/December. Whoever it is, we’ll find out in a few days.