Hughie Fury upset at Joseph Parker for overlooking him

By Scott Gilfoid: Mandatory challenger Hughie Fury (20-0, 10 KOs) intends on making WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (23-0, 18 KOs) pay on Saturday night for him overlooking him in their fight at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

Parker, 25, has been looking ahead towards more profitable fights against the likes of Tony Bellew, WBC champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber’ Wilder and IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.

Hughie, 23, hasn’t fought in 17 months since his life and death struggle to defeat journeyman Fred Kassi by a 7th round technical decision on April 30 last year. That was a fight where Hughie gassed out after 6 rounds and was getting world over by Kassi. When things got bad for Hughie, he got a lucky break when he lowered his head like a Billy Goat and rammed his face into the crown of Kassi’s head.

The collision caused a bad cut over the left eye of Fury, which led to the ringside doctor stopping the contest after round 7. If not for that cut, Hughie very likely would have been knocked out by Kassi, because there were still 4 rounds to go, and poor Hughie was fighting on fumes. He was totally exhausted and could no longer defend himself. The way that Hughie charged forward face first, I got the impression at the time that he was looking for an effortless way out of the fight by suffering a cut. I’m hoping that’s not what Hughie did, but it looked like that way to me.

What’s unclear about Hughie being rated No1 by the World Boxing Organization is why they chose to keep him rated so highly when he hasn’t fought in 1 ½ years. The WBO needs to make some adjustments to their ranking system, because letting guys sit on their backsides for year after year and still be rated No.1 with their organization, it looks bad. We saw the same thing with the WBO with them rating Miguel Cotto at No1 recently with him been out of the ring for nearly 2 years.

“He was obviously overlooking me,” said Fury to ESPN.com. “That’s the worst thing he could ever do and he will see that on September 23. Eddie Hearn is a cockroach. They’ll see what they are going to get by overlooking me. I hope he’s well prepared, that’s for sure,” said Hughie.

Hughie is being overlooked by the 6’4” Parker for a variety of reasons.

These are the likely reasons why Parker sees Hughie as being an easy mark:

• Weak puncher

• Terrible stamina

• Inactive fighter

• Poor resume

• Limp jab

• Constantly running fighting style

• Excessive clincher

I hate to say it but Hughie is little more than a tall spoiler. He’s like a weaker version of Tyson Fury. I mean, I think Tyson Fury is a badly flawed slapper type of heavyweight, but he looks worlds better than Hughie. When you take away the best aspects of Tyson’s game, you’re left with Hughie. I see the guy as basically getting a title shot against Parker based off his last name in being connected to Tyson Fury in being his nephew. If not for that, Hughie would be little more than a bottom feeder in the heavyweight rankings. I think he’d still be rated, but more towards rock bottom of the WBO’s ratings at #15.

“It doesn’t really bother me because I feel like the champion anyway so it’s a matter time and I will prove that on September 23,”said Fury about him being the underdog.

It shouldn’t bother Hughie that he’s the underdog against Parker. How in the heck can Hughie expect the odds-makers to make him the favorite when he hasn’t fought in 1 ½ years, and his last performance was an awful one against journeyman Fred Kassi. Hughie looked so bad in that fight that he made Kassi look like a world beater. At the end of the fight, Kassi looked like the better guy.

Hughie can blame his performance on his skin condition, but I don’t buy that excuse. Hughie looked like a big tall fighter with stamina problems. It’s not uncommon for big 6’6” guys like Hughie to have stamina issues when they’re forced to fight hard the way that Kassi was pushing him. Hughie is going to be in for a real shock when he finds out on Saturday night that his stamina hasn’t improved one bit from the Kassi fight.

Hughie is going to be the same fighter he was in the past when he gets inside the ring with Parker. The only difference is that he’s not going to be able to clinch all night long to try and escape the beating that Parker will be dishing out for 12 rounds. I just hope we don’t see another head-butt from Hughie if things start going badly for him. It would be a pity if he suffers another cut face or if Parker gets cut from a clash of heads when things start going badly for Hughie. I’d prefer to see Hughie go out on his shield if he doesn’t have the talent to exist with the 25-old Parker on Saturday night.

“Joseph Parker is a tough fighter and I do rate him as one of the toughest fighters out there, he’s very hungry. He’s got good movement and fast hands and he can box either way,” said Hughie.

Parker is a lot bigger puncher than Hughie, with a better jab and far superior boxing skills. The only thing that Hughie has going for him in this fight is he’ll be fighting at home in Manchester. The boxing fans will be cheering him on from start to finish. If Hughie can’t get the most of out of his skills with the fans backing him all night long, then I don’t know what he can do. It’s a benefit for Hughie that he’s going to be fighting in front of his own fans on Saturday night. The fans will motivate him, and if the fight goes to the judges’ scorecards, then it’s Hughie they likely will favor.

Prediction:

My prediction is Parker by a knockout. Hughie can’t punch, he has zero stamina, and he’s coming off of a near 2-year layoff from boxing. That all spells KO defeat for Hughie in my opinion. What makes this an even worse outcome for Hughie is the fact that he’s taking a huge step up in class in fighting Parker. Hughie has never fought anyone near as good as Parker during his career. The best guy Hughie has fought was the journeyman Kassi, and he probably would have lost that fight if not for the head-butt that saved him in the 7th. The only way I see the Parker-Fury fight ending with a victory for Hughie is if it goes to the scorecards, and we see a controversial decision like last Saturday’s Gennady Golovkin vs. Saul Canelo Alvarez. Hughie is too outgunned in this fight in the power and talent department for him to defeat a guy as good as Parker. There’s a wide gulf between the two in terms of the talent and overall skills. Parker has a great boxing brain, and he’ll quickly figure out Hughie and beat him badly. If I’m Hughie, I’d be looking to survive for 12 rounds and hope that the judges will bail me out.