Joseph Parker’s promoter wants Tyson Fury fight

By Tim Royner

Boxingnews24.com

Promoter David Higgins has thrown former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker‘s name into the ring as potential opponent for lineal champion Tyson Fury (27-0-1, 19 KOs) to fight now that the prospects of a fight against Dereck Chisora on April 20 appear to have evaporated.

Fury, 30, needs an opponent for his next fight, and it’s widely being speculated that his rematch with WBC champion Deontay Wilder is unlikely to happen now that Tyson has signed a five-fight contract with Top Rank Boxing and will be fighting on ESPN. Parker already beat Hughie Fury by a 12 round majority decision two years ago in September 2017. The fight was one-sided from start to finish with Hughie just spoiling nonstop with him running and holding. Hughie’s trainer would have done him a favor if he had pulled him out after six rounds when it was painfully obvious that he wasn’t mentally interested in fighting on the night. Tyson Fury can try and avenge Hughie’s loss by taking on Parker, but it also could go badly for him as well. Parker would then have to Fury names on his resume in the win column. There are certain type of guys that Parker does well against, and those are weak punchers. Tyson might not do any better than Hughie did in his fight with Parker.

“Some would say that would be the wrong fight for Joe next as Fury is a very tricky opponent,” Higgins said to the nzherald.co.nz. “”We think he’s better than Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder. Fury v Parker would be a massive global event.”

With the big money Fury can make in a rematch with Wilder, and in a fight against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Anthony Joshua, it’s HIGHLY doubtful he’ll want to mess about with a puncher like Parker, who is still like a live grenade despite having lost twice recently. If Fury takes the fight with Parker, he could jeopardize his money fights with Wilder and Joshua. Parker wouldn’t miss as much with his power punches as Wilder did against Fury. We also don’t know whether Fury’s punch resistance is still there after the knockdown he suffered in the 12th round against Wilder on December 1 in Los Angeles, California. That was arguably a knockout that Fury suffered, not just a knockdown. Fury appeared to lose consciousness when he was dropped. You’ve obviously got to give the 6’9″ Fury heaps of credit for getting up from the 12th round knockdown to carry on, but that doesn’t take away the fact that happened, and we don’t know how he’s going to react to getting hit hard by a fighter that likes to throw straight rights with lots of power like Parker typically does.

It might be difficult for the U.S hardcore boxing fans to get up for a fight between a guy that has lost two out of his last three fights in 27-year-old Parker (25-2, 19 KOs), and another fighter that is coming off of a 12 round draw. Parker vs. Fury might be a decent level fight in the UK and in New Zealand, but it’s not going to be a huge one in the U.S, no matter ho big the mega-phone is with ESPN.

Fury and Parker aren’t well known enough in the United States for a fight between them to be a huge event over there. If Fury wants to gain attention from American boxing fans in a hurry, he needs to be fighting the likes of Wilder or Luis Ortiz. Those are fights that will attract interest. Parker is struggling too much right now with his record in his last two fights at 1-2.

Parker vs. Dereck Chisora is a better fight for Joseph. It’s more fitting to where he’s at with his career. Chisora is coming off of an 11th round knockout loss to Dillian Whyte on December 22. Parker won his last fight against little known Alexander Flores by a third round knockout on December 15, but before that, he’d lost consecutive fights to Whyte and Anthony Joshua.

Fury vs. Parker isn’t nearly a good enough fight to attract the interest from the American boxing fans. This fight is just as bad as the Joshua vs. Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller fight, which is terrible one. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom overestimated the amount of interest that he thought would come about from the U.S public in seeing one of their fellow Americans in ‘Big Baby’ Miller taking on a foreign fighter in Joshua. The U.S fans don’t know who Miller is, and they’re not going to waste rallying around the flat just because he’s from the U.S. This is a different era. American fans like see going fighters no matter where they’re from. Miller doesn’t even look like a fighter. He looks like a football player. That’s another reason for the U.S fans to be turned off by the Joshua vs. Miller fight.

If Top Rank wants to impress the U.S fans, they need to match Fury with Luis Ortiz if they’re not going to make the rematch with Wilder next.