By Patrick McHugh: Unbeaten #1 IBF, #1 WBO heavyweight contender Joseph Parker is flying to Las Vegas, Nevada to being training for what could be a fight for the vacant World Boxing Organization title against unbeaten Andy Ruiz Jr. (29-0, 19 KOs) on December 10. Parker (21-0, 18 KOs) and his management plan on fighting for the WBO title as soon as it’s stripped from champion Tyson Fury, who allegedly tested positive for cocaine on September 22 during VADA’s testing for Fury’s cancelled October 29 rematch against Wladimir Klitschko.
Parker, 24, knows what he’s up against in fighting the hard punching Ruiz Jr., who comes from Imperial, California. Parker sparred with Ruiz Jr. three years ago in 2013, and suffered a bad cut on his mouth after being nailed with a hard shot. Parker said later that no one has ever hit him as hard as Ruiz before.
There’s no doubt that Ruiz Jr. is one of the hardest punchers in the heavyweight division. He doesn’t have much hand speed, and he’s definitely not body beautiful, but he’s got heavy hands. Ruiz Jr. is like a George Foreman type of puncher, who bludgeons you into submission over a number of rounds rather than with one single shot.
There was talk of Parker fighting the 6’6” Hughie Fury, but Ruiz Jr. opted not to take the fight. It’s good thing, because he might have ended up chasing Hughie around the ring all night long. Hughie doesn’t stand and punch it out like a lot of heavyweights. Parker uses a lot of movement too, but he’s more willing to trade than Hughie.
“I remember when I sparred him in 2013; he had a lot of power. I was saying to someone else, he was the only one who punched me, the hardest I’ve ever been punched before and ripped my mouth,” said Parker to skysports.com about his sparring with Ruiz Jr. in the past. “I couldn’t eat for about three days so I know he’s got a lot of power, and he’s got a lot of experience. But I know if I have a great training camp, I know I will beat anyone in the world.”
Parker is taking a different route to a world title shot than the one he was previously thinking of taking. Parker, 6’4”, was supposed to be fighting IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua at some point for the IBF belt. Parker defeated Carlos Takam in an International Boxing Federation heavyweight title eliminator last May to become the mandatory challenger to Joshua. It was then thought that Parker would fight Joshua in November.
However, with Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko potentially facing each other for the WBA and IBF title on November 26, Parker’s promoter Dean Lonergan is having him go in another direction to fight for the soon to be vacant WBO heavyweight title against the unbeaten Ruiz Jr. It’s a better deal than Parker just sitting around and doing nothing while Wladimir gets the title shot against Joshua instead of him. However, the winner of the Parker-Ruiz Jr. fight could face the winner of the Joshua vs. Klitschko match to unify three of the four world titles. The only belt that wouldn’t be in the possession of the winner of that fight would be the WBC title, which is held by Deontay Wilder.
It’s thought that Wilder will soon face Joshua or whoever is the one that holds the majority of the belts. That way there will be one heavyweight that holds all four of the titles in the division when the smoke finally clears.
“We’re number one in the WBO, we’re number one in the IBF, we’re mandatory in the IBF,” said Lonergan to skysports.com. “The absolute worst outcome we could get, which is a real positive, is that in March we fight the winner of Joshua v Klitschko. How good’s that going to be for a title? The best outcome we can get is in December and we get Andy Ruiz down here. I’m in ongoing discussions with Bob Arum, I think we’re close.”
Parker can’t afford to look past Ruiz Jr., because this will be the hardest puncher he’s faced in his pro career before. Ruiz wants to become a world champion badly, and he’s in the prime of his career. He not only hits hard, but he’s got a good chin as well. If Parker can’t knock Ruiz out early in the fight like he recently did against Alexander Dimitrenko, then it could be a really tough fight for him. Having Ruiz hang around for 12 rounds would result in Parker getting hit with a lot of heavy shots unless he uses his boxing skills and a great deal of movement to keep from getting hit. It’s hard to avoid Ruiz for 12 rounds because he’s so good at cutting off the ring. He throws a lot of body shots, so he’s going to be hitting something even if Parker is running.