Joseph Parker vs The United Kingdom
While you were complaining about the fifty buck price tag of the Joseph Parker vs Razvan Cojanu fight, British boxing fans were tuning in for free on Sky Sports UK, who’d picked up the live broadcast rights for their country. That’s a bit of a rarity for them folks, who’ve only really known Joseph Parker by reputation and record before.
Even the Parker vs Ruiz fight didn’t get that kind of exposure. It was broadcast in Britain on BoxNation, “The new home of Boxing”, which you can get on the Sky of BT satellite packages, but the upgrade to a loftier channel tells a story – Parker is slowly starting to make a name for himself in England. Now that Anthony Joshua has established himself at the head of the table, the call has gone out for possible challengers and the South Aucklander has been in that bracket going way back. Here was his chance to make a statement to the world.
Well, he made that statement. It just wasn’t the one he meant to make. Instead of a devastating knockout of Razzy Raz he had to settle for a comfortable but frustrating unanimous points decision. Parker retains his belt… but maybe only for as long as it takes to book in another defence, at least in the eyes of all those Joshua fans.
Of course the other reason that this fight carried weight in the UK was that it was supposed to feature Hughie Fury. They’d probably pencilled in the broadcast going way back. Fury hurt his back (and his reputation) and had to pull out of that one but he remains the WBO’s mandatory challenger. Within a few weeks Duco and Frank Warren (who has close ties to BoxNation, by the way) will have to have a few discussions and see where things go there. Best case scenario for Duco is that Fury’s back is still crook and they can settle for another voluntary defence. Keep Hughie in your thoughts.
After the Cojanu fight, Parker confirmed what was never much of a secret which is that this was likely his last bout in New Zealand for a long time. The influence in the heavyweight division lies in England these days. Anthony Joshua is the champ and he’s flanked by several other contenders. Deontay Wilder has a belt too but surprisingly he’s not a huge name in America, whereas Joshua vs Klitschko just packed 90,000 fans into Wembley Stadium. The UK is where it’s at right now. The money, the power, the fame, the glory. That’s where Joseph Parker is plotting his next moves, rightly so.
Which is why that rather unflattering introduction to so many British fans has come at a strange time. Not necessarily a bad time… but a strange time.
See the assumption was that nothing short of an early knockout would meet expectations. As it turned out Raz Cojanu was better and sturdier than most thought he’d be so those expectations should have been reassessed, really. But people tend not to think that way. Parker’s lack of power was exposed and although his hand speed and fitness got him through, boxing is the kind of sport where comfort is easily mistaken for sluggishness. The circumstances of Parker’s win meant there wasn’t hardly anything worth taking from it other than the result but that didn’t stop a flurry of dismissive tweets and comments flooding the banks of our news media (who for some reason find tweets and comments to be newsworthy).
Among them were a couple worth paying attention to, however. If Parker looks bad, if dudes think he’s not worth the belt he holds, then they’ll wanna fight him. There’s nothing quite so tasty as an easy-beat with a belt. In reality Joe is a far better fighter than he showed against Cojanu. Get him going up against an opponent who actually tries to throw some punches in return and Parker’s speed and combination work will shine through. He beat Cojanu on the strength of his jab alone. His right hand had dust on it by the final bell. But, yeah, this was the first major slice of live exposure for him in England and them geezers were taking notice.
Huh, now that escalated fast. Almost think maybe a Bellew v Whyte battle might be more appropriate at this point. Dillian Whyte is a legit fighter, he gave Anthony Joshua his toughest test prior to Wladimir Klitschko and could even get a rematch with AJ based on current reports. Unlikely since Joshua’s got two conflicting mandatories already to deal with, but Whyte can fight. He’s up against Mariusz Wach on June 3 and is top 12 ranked in all four major organisations.
As for Bellew, he made a real name for himself when he beat David Haye earlier in the year. Problem for him is that he’s really a cruiserweight and he was getting beat in that Haye fight until Haye snapped his Achilles (but kept on slugging). It was an asterisk win which Bellew has treated like vindication. Whyte is right that Bellew’s seen as vulnerable by most genuine heavyweight talents and it from Parker’s view that match-up makes sense for those two reasons: hype and ability. He’s the one that Duco have reportedly sounded out for their next one.
Though, again, Parker also only has 120 days to defend his title against Hughie Fury so that could decide what he does next regardless of the others. Those negotiations were complicated from the start, any combination that finds Duco on one side and the Fury’s on the other will be, but they got especially testing once Duco surprisingly won the purse bid. From that point on the bout was gonna take place on Duco’s terms, in New Zealand, and the Fury Camp were continually leaning on distractions the whole rest of the way. To the point where the back injury felt almost convenient… although Duco’s Dave Higgins outright accusing him of faking it was a bit much. Makes any future talks even more complicated too.
The man in question also kept a close eye on the Cojanu fight and, like the rest of them, wasn’t too convinced by what he saw…
Hughie Fury: “Parker, to me, didn't look like he knew what to do with Cojanu after a few rounds when he couldn't land his big shots and he wasn't breaking him down. He made very hard work of it and against a former sparring partner who you'd think he'd know inside out and be able to take out, but he struggled and looked poor. My opinion of my chances against Parker hasn't changed after watching that. I said before I'll knock him out and that remains the same, but now I know I'll knock him out and take the WBO world title from him.”
Notably Anthony Joshua has stayed clear of all of this. He and Parker aren’t the trash talking types, they don’t really need to be, but after their respective last bouts Parker is clearly a fight or two away from being a serious AJ contender. If he boosts his profile in the UK with a win or two against these others though, then both sides will wanna talk.
Hence the strangeness. Parker didn’t have to beat Cojanu any more dominantly than he did but by taking it a long twelve rounds he’s shown a lot of fellow contenders a weakness or two that they all think they can punish. Dillian Whyte’s the only one of the likely trio with the power to properly do that but that doesn’t stop ‘em all from lining up and throwing out their chat. In a funny way, Parker’s accidentally playing the hustle. He’s obviously better than he’s being given credit for but by looking weaker these others are keener to fight him now.
At a guess, Tony Bellew will be next for JP. If Parker is being underrated then Bellew is overrated, it makes the most sense. He’s smaller than Parker and doesn’t hit overly hard either, at least not at the heavyweight division, and that one would bring in the most cash. Hughie Fury is the mandatory though and he’ll have to move over for that to happen (luckily there are always complications with the Fury Camp).
Dillian Whyte? Call him the backup to the preferred alternative. Bellew’s the biggest name and a fight against him does the most for Parker’s UK profile. Right now, that’s what it’s all about.
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