Joseph Parker needs to impress against Alexander Flores

Boxingnews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: Former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (24-2, 18 KOs) needs to not only win next month against Alexander Flores (17-1-1, 15 KOs) on December 15, but look good in doing so for him to partially redeem himself following his back to back losses to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte.

Parker, 26, fights Flores at the Horncastle Arena, Christchurch in New Zealand. A loss to Flores would be unthinkable. Parker simply cannot afford to absorb anymore loses at this point in his career. Parker wants a rematch with Whyte, who beat him by a 12 round unanimous decision on July 28 at the O2 Arena in London, England.

It was a fight that could have gone Parker’s way if the referee had made the right calls at the right time. The referee failed to make calls when Whyte decided to rough Parker up during the second half of the fight, and blew a call on a knockdown in round 2. The knockdown occurred from Whyte ramming heads with Parker, which sent him down.

“This fight against Alexander Flores has career implications for us,” said Parker’s trainer Kevin Barry said to skysports.com. “We’re coming off back-to-back losses, which is something that has been hard for us to accept. It’s very, very important that we get a good win here.”

The good news is Flores isn’t much of a threat of beating Parker. Flores was knocked out by former IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin in the 4th round in 2014. Parker still needs to beat Flores and look great in doing so. If anything, it’s even more important for Parker to shine against the obscure Flores. It’s pretty much a no-win situation for Parker. He’s not going to get credit for beating Flores unless he destroys him in the first three rounds. Parker can knockout Flores immediately if he applies himself, but he doesn’t have the killer instinct needed for him to beat him in that manner.

Parker wants to fight the winner of the December 22 fight between Whyte and Dereck Chisora . However, Whyte is already pegged as being Anthony Joshua’s opponent on April 13. With that fight at stake, Whyte won’t likely agree to fight Parker until after he faces Joshua. Whyte isn’t going to put the Joshua fight in jeopardy by facing a tough guy like Parker. Whyte was knocked down in the 12th round by Parker last July. Considering how close the fight was, it’s unlikely that Whyte will ever give a rematch to Parker.

It might not be a good idea for Parker to face Whyte again unless he can negotiate to have the fight take place outside of the UK. Parker has had bad luck in his two fights in the UK, and it’s a good idea for him to look for a neutral venue if he wants to fight Whyte again.