By Jeff Aronow: Joseph Parker has seen enough of Tyson Fury from his recent performances against Deontay Wilder to rate him as the #1 heavyweight in the division now. Parker is picking Fury to beat Wilder in their trilogy fight when it takes at some point in the future.
The former WBO heavyweight champion Parker (27-2, 21 KOs) saw the vast improvements that Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) made in his game in terms of his nutrition, fighting style and from his training team. It’s a whole new Fury that has been created from the one that fans had been accustomed to seeing in the past.
Parker has won his last three fights since losing consecutive fights to Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua in 2018, and he’d like to challenge Fury for his WBC title.
Fury beats Wilder in trilogy predicts Parker
”He’s the biggest in the division, and he’s number one. I think he’s the best in our era,” Parker said to skysports.com. ”It will be the same result, a Fury win. In the second fight, he demolished him.
“In the third fight, he would be in even better shape and would be the same result. We took a photo with the belts. Hopefully one day I can hold them again,” said Parker.
We saw a well-conditioned Fury last February in his rematch with Wilder, but ‘The Gypsy King’ may have reached his zenith with that performance. Although Parker believes that Fury can come into the third fight even better, that may not be possible.
Fury-Wilder 3 is slated for October 3, but that date isn’t set in stone. Whether that fight takes place in October 2020 will depend on the status of the coronavirus, and the outlook isn’t looking rosy right now.
Parker isolating at home
“I’ve just been staying home and taking this very seriously,” said Parker to IFL TV on the coronavirus. “We’ve seen what it’s caused. We’re staying home. I had the spider bite that pulled me out of the Chisora fight, which is the one I really wanted. I was able to fight in February, and I was trying to fight in May or June, but this coronavirus has hit.
“It’s not only delayed myself, it’s delayed all the other fights as well. The way I’ve handled it is by training every day here at home. I’m going to stay and shape and keep ready because when this thing finishes and passes, I’ll be ready for every fight they give,” said Parker.
Joseph recently missed out on a big fight against Dereck Chisora when he pulled out due to a spider bite. For boxing fans, they’re not buying Parker’s excuse about the spider, and they’re convinced that he got cold feet and didn’t want it.
Fury surprised people
“He, Deontay Wilder, had the WBC and he defended it 10 times, and so a guy like that, all he knows is winning and knocking guys out,” said Parker. “The only thing he knows is knocking people out, and for him to take a loss like that. It’s not as if he’s a bad fighter.
“He’s got a big right hand that knocks people out. He just got beat by a better man on that day,” Parker said of Wilder losing to Fury. “He can always come back and work on some adjustments on a few things and come back better and stronger.
“The first thing, he [Wilder] needs to accept that he lost to a better boxer, and once you accept that, you can work on some of the negative things and come back stronger. I think everyone was surprised,” Parker said about Fury’s aggressiveness.
“He came out and put him on the backfoot and chased him [Wilder] around. And he said he was going to do that, and I don’t think anyone believed that. Everyone must have thought, ‘He’s a joker. All he does is boxing and is a mover. He’s got a really good defense, and he boxes.’ But when he came out and took it to him, he really surprised a lot of people, myself included,” Parker said of Fury beating Wilder.
What surprised fans is the different look that Fury game Wilder for their rematch. After the first fight between the two heavyweights in 2018, it was assumed Fury would fight the same.
Wilder needs to accept loss to Fury – Parker
“I saw some comments about the gloves and he’s cheating and this or that, I have no idea about what they were on about,” said Parker about talk about Fury’s gloves slipping from his hand during the second Wilder fight. “And I would assume that before a fight that hand wraps are checked gloves are checked, and they’re all signed off before walking out to the ring.
“I think people are trying to speculate something that wasn’t there, and people trying to make excuses. And other people there don’t want to accept a loss as well. It’s just a way for them to make an excuse.
“Hopefully [Team Wilder], they can accept that he won and that he trained fair and square and he trained really hard for that fight,” said Parker on Fury’s win. “They [Team Fury] changed a few things for that camp. The nutrition, the trainer, and then he got the result that he was looking for,” said Parker.
“My favorite fight was the Joshua fight, probably because of the whole event leading into the fight, and fighting in front of a massive crowd,” Parker said on his 2018 fight with Joshua.
“The way that I fought probably wasn’t the best because he won, but in terms of the event, that would be my favorite. The lead-up and how exciting it was. I love anywhere I fight,” said Parker.
Joseph reviews Whyte-Povetkin & Usyk-Chisora fights
“Whyte-Povetkin, for me, that’s interesting,” said Parker. “For them, isn’t it portrayed as the best-left hook? Those guys have the best-left hooks, and I guess it’s an interesting fight. I would side with Whyte [over Povetkin] because he’s younger. He still has that hunger because he hasn’t had the chance to fight for a world title. It’s still there to get to the place to fight for a world title.
“I think he can,” said Parker when asked if Oleksandr Usyk can make a mark at heavyweight. “I think his first fight [against Chazz Witherspoon] was a welcoming fight for him. It’s difficult adjusting to a different weight class, and now that he has his first fight out of the way, he has a good team that will help him work on gaining weight the right way.
“Chisora always comes forward, and walks you down and throws big bombs. For that fight, I would side with Usyk. Just the movement and the punching combination and style, and also the variety of punches he throws. That’s why I would pick him. Hell, yeah, I would want to fight him [Chisora] right now if I could. I had that fight at the beginning of the year against Shawndell Winters.
“Before we locked into Shawndell Winters, we sent out offers to a lot of other fighters, Michael Hunter, Helenius, Arreola, Erkan Teper. There were a few others that we were looking at fighting, and I was just happy that Shawndell Winters took the fight,” said Parker.
It might be pointless for Parker to have reviewed the Dillian Whyte vs. Alexander Povetkin and Oleksandr Usyk vs. Dereck Chisora fight, considering those fights are likely to be postponed. Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn stated last Friday that there will be an announcement for his May 2, 8 and 23 cards.
Parker picks Joshua to beat Pulev
“He can be dangerous,” said Parker when asked of Kubrat Pulev could be a dangerous opponent for Joshua. “I think any heavyweight can be dangerous at any time. If you land the right punch at the right time, it’s game over, you know? Joshua put on a great performance against Ruiz after losing. In that short space of time he had, he changed his whole style.
“He used to be the type that would come forward, throw punches and meet you in the middle kind of fighter. But he was able to box and move and not get caught, and he’s a good fighter. I believe he’ll take the victory when they do fight,” said Parker in picking Joshua to defeat Pulev.
Joshua vs. Pulev is also at risk of being postponed. The fight is scheduled for June 20, but it’s not scheduled far enough in the future for it to be untouched by the coronavirus postponement bug.
