By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing
Former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (27-2, 21 KOs) is confident of victory against WBO#6 Junior Fa (19-0, 10 KOs) when they clash on February 27 at Sparks Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.
“We’d been working really hard to ensure I peaked in December and delivered a performance that would have made the heavyweight division sit up and take notice,” Parker said . “So it was very disappointing when Junior had to postpone. But these things happen in boxing. The good thing is that Junior is now on track to be 100 percent fit and ready to go in February. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Fa in 2! Paker is a has been and very boring to watch.
Not sure what you could be basing that comment on?
You have a point. Parker is not the most exciting fighter to watch.
right. Parker is not very entertaining to watch, but it doesnt make Fa any better of a fighter.
At least Fa will go in and try to make a fight out of it and come forward. Unfortunately he is fighting Parker so it will be a snooze fest.
What is it with Parker? He used to be an exciting fighter, fast hands and he used them well. Has a solid set of skills, decent punch, good chin, but as soon as it is a more difficult fight he seems to lose interest and looks very very ordinary.
That’s probably because he is ordinary, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. The same could be said about just about every successful fighter in history, including most of the greats. Just about all quality fighters look exciting, confident and nearly unbeatable against marginal competition, but then look mortal against top fighters. What makes great fighters are those who continue fighting the best fighters around and winning most of those matchups.
Just look at the current WW division which looks loaded, but unless those guys who look so great actually fight each other than we can never really tell who is a great fighter. Unfortunately, as seldom as top fights are made these days it’s just as likely that they’ll simply skip to the next division to garner another worthless alphabelt rather than actually establishing greatness against the best.
Great point Dave! However, using the Welterweight Division doesn’t really drive it home. They have actually been fighting one another with one glaring exception. Unfortunately, Crawford might be the best of the bunch and the PBC doesn’t seem willing to budge. With that said, Spence has fought Kell Brook, Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia in his come back fight. Thurman couldn’t stay healthy and then lost to Pacman and I don’t really hear anybody beating the drums for Pac and Spence. The only Welterweight of note at this point is TC, so hopefully, we’ll get to see it.
As for Parker, I don’t feel he’s washed up. He certainly has all the visible tools, but seems to lack that killer instinct to put him over the top. Against AJ, he let the referee take in fighting off the table and allowed it to become a stair fest. No way you beat a popular champion at home that way. I’ve openly wondered if a different team could get better results, but it might be so ingrained that it can’t be fixed. Who knows? It is the Heavyweight Division and one punch can turn the world upside down:
Rahman
McCall
Ruiz (while AJ got up, he was never right after the first knockdown)
Douglas (a perpetual underachiever was galvanized for one perfect fight by the death of his mother.)
You’re right. The LW division is a better example.
Dave, I still have high Hope’s for that one. Unfortunately, my guess is a few of those guys will be moving to 140 before they all can fight at 35. Lopez is quite big for the Division and Garcia is HUGE for the Division. Remember who small Loma looked next to Luke Campbell. Not only was Garcia the bigger guy, he acted like it. Campbell made him pay, but it was little more than a wake up call. Of course, Loma is a very small Lightweight.
I’m hoping Lopez fights one of the young guns prior to his inevitable move up to 40. My preference is Tank, because his power and style might make it the best matchup to watch. I think Garcia needs a touch more seasoning and Haney would make it a track meet. Another reason for Tank is his size might not be enough at 140 and I think Garcia’s frame will go all the way to 154 eventually. He and Lopez might see each other often down the road.
Give it time and hopefully, these guys will meet several times.
Not: Shakur feels like he’ll likely be a Division behind most of these, but at least he’s showing more power.
Scott, agree, recon Parker will do better changing trainer, team. Probably his only hope in changing what he is lacking now, that will to really want to win when things get more competitive, tougher.
Always good to read well informed fight fans who know their stuff. Great breakdown Scott
DaveF – It is disappointing the way Parker becomes so passive when the fight gets tougher. The same disappointment with Tua when he fought Lewis, he just stopped trying, resigned to just seeing the fight through to the last round. And against Byrd, but Byrd was tricky.
Snooze fest unless Fa can make a fight of it..