By Eric Baldwin: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is now the co-promoter for unbeaten #1 WBO heavyweight contender Joseph Parker (21-0, 18 KOs), which means that if he wins his fight against unbeaten #3 WBO Andy Ruiz Jr. (29-0, 19 KOs) this Saturday night in their fight for the vacant WBO heavyweight title, Arum will have his first heavyweight champion in his stable since Hasim Rahman.
It’s pretty clever of the 84-year-old Arum to sign a co-promotional deal with the 24-year-old Parker, because it means that no matter what happens this Saturday on December 10, Arum will have a new heavyweight champion for his Top Rank stable. Arum also promotes the 27-year-old Ruiz Jr., so it’s a great deal for him. The Parker vs. Ruiz Jr. fight will be televised by HBO Championship Boxing on Saturday, and it’ll be taking place at the Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. The start time for U.S fans watching the Parker-Ruiz Jr. fight on HBO in the States is at 9:35 p.m. ET/PT. It’s a delay fight.
Arum said this to ESPN.com about the Parker vs. Ruiz Jr. fight on Saturday:
“Listen, having been in this business 50-plus years, I don’t expect anybody to win a fight, particularly when it’s as close on paper as this one is,” Arum said. “I really think that the winner of this fight probably has the best chance to be the pre-eminent heavyweight, I really believe that. Parker has natural skills. He’s so big and he punches so hard, and Andy has the fastest hands that I’ve seen on a heavyweight since Muhammad Ali.”
I’m sure the other top heavyweights in the division will have something to say about who the best heavyweight is in the division. The Parker vs. Ruiz Jr. fight is a good one, but both of those guys re still kind of flaw in the boxing skills department right now. That doesn’t mean that the winner and the loser can’t keep improving to put themselves up at the top of the division. Right now, it’s hard to see Ruiz Jr. or Parker as the best in the heavyweight division.
The winner of the Parker vs. Ruiz Jr. fight will have the opportunity to fight a unification match against WBC champion Deontay Wilder and IBF champion Anthony Joshua in the future. I don’t think that will happen in 2017 though. Those champions have other fights in front of them before they can start thinking about fighting the winner of the Parker vs. Ruiz Jr. fight.
“If Parker does defeat Andy Ruiz then we will, together with Duco, perhaps have Parker fight in the United States, then come back here and then fight in China. Believe me, this [is] just the start,:” said Arum.
It’s going to take a lot to turn Parker into a star in the U.S. Parker doesn’t have a Mike Tyson like fighting style. He tends to move around a fair bit when facing punchers. If saw Parker’s fight against Carlos Takam last May, you’ll have noticed that Parker does not stand and slug the way that boxing fans like to see in the U.S. He’s more of a finesse type of heavyweight unless he’s fighting someone that is no threat to beating him like Alexander Dimitrenko. Parker recently stopped Dimitrenko in the 3rd round last October.
It might be better for Arum if Ruiz Jr. wins this fight on Saturday night, because he’s a Mexican American, and he has the potential of becoming a star overnight. He would be the first Mexican heavyweight champion in the U.S, and that would be a big deal. Arum could stage Ruiz Jr’s fights in the Los Angeles or in Texas and likely bring in huge crowds.
Ruiz Jr. is a good heavyweight, but he’s got some built in flaws in his game. Arum would likely need to be careful with the type of guys he matches him against if he wanted to keep unbeaten. If Ruiz Jr. got matched against a mover, he might wind up losing. Parker is going to be using movement against Ruiz Jr., because it would be crazy night to. Ruiz Jr. hits too hard for Parker to stand in front of him for the full 12 rounds.
Besides co-promoting Parker, Arum will also co-promote unbeaten welterweight contender Jeff Horn (15-0-1, 10 KOs). Horn will be fighting on Saturday night against Ali Funeka on the Parker vs. Ruiz Jr. two card. Horn seems to be a pretty good fighter. He might have a hard time against the top welterweights in the division like Errol Spence Jr., Keith Thurman, Manny Pacquiao, Tim Bradley, Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia.