Irrespective of the prize, a shot at Oleksandr Usyk’s WBO crown, Joe Joyce versus Joseph Parker is a great fight, two big, ambitious heavyweights laying it all on the line.
Joyce is just the kind of opponent fighters hate to face, always in front of you, propelled by a fabulous engine and protected by a granite chin. Parker, 30, is seven years younger, nice skills, decent puncher, a good box-fighter with a lot of experience. And he was good enough to beat Andy Ruiz for the vacant WBO title six years ago.
He lost it to Anthony Joshua three bouts later, one of only two defeats in his career. Neither Joshua nor Dillian Whyte were able to stop him, though the latter had him down twice. Dereck Chisora also put him down.
However, this is a hard night’s work for both, the toughest of Joyce’s career against a former champion with more than 30 fights under his belt. Parker has been training in Morecambe working with Tyson Fury and Andy Lee. I rate Lee, a calm voice and good strategists. They believe they have worked out how to inflict a first defeat on Joyce. Easier said than done. Parker needs to be solid with the jab, slam it out, step right and left, keep the intensity high and pick his punches. That is hard to do under pressure.
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Joyce is an intelligent, smart fighter. He exhausts you by being on top of you. He has to be aggressive because he knows he can’t win a boxing competition. Parker has to resist that pressure, react to it, which is tiring because you have to be on the move the whole time. Joyce is big, imposing and athletic. He can soak up punishment and continue to walk you down. Not for nothing he is called the Juggernaut. He once broke our running machine in the gym. He can run five miles at close to six-minute mile pace. At 19 stones that’s some going.
Yes Joyce’s movement is not great, but he makes opponents fight at his pace because he is so big and relentless, in your face the whole time. Joyce won’t be fazed by Parker building an early lead. He will be expecting Parker to come out fast. The dynamic will shift in the second half of the fight when Parker starts to tire. Parker will have taken a few shots by then, which accelerates fatigue. Parker labelled Joyce the ‘hype train’. Make that freight train. Joyce has stopped all but one of his 14 opponents. Another late stoppage is on the cards here. Joyce to win wither way.
Follow Barry McGuigan on Twitter at @ClonesCyclone @McGuigans_Gym
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