Joyce Overcomes A Brave Parker In Heavyweight Classic
If your best and the first line of your defence is your chin, eventually, it will let you down. With each fight and each punch absorbed, that day draws a little closer. But for now, Joe Joyce is reaping the benefits of almost certainly having the best chin in boxing. Joseph Parker is the latest heavyweight to find this out.
On Saturday night in Manchester, Parker threw the boxing kitchen sink at Joyce. The unbeaten 'Juggernaut' just blinked, and there were times I'm not sure he even did that and carried on regardless. Make no mistake, Joyce is an absolute nightmare to fight. And will be an incredibly hard fighter to beat. He will give any heavyweight in the world an extremely difficult night.
Parker with his energy reserves reducing by the second was ultimately bludgeoned to defeat in the 11th round of a titanic heavyweight tussle. He was brave well beyond the call of duty. But his demise had long been coming. Parker delayed it longer than perhaps he should have. The former WBO champion was resilient beyond belief at times, a tough tough man. We shouldn't forget what he brought to the fight.
The granite chin is what we know him for, but Joyce brings more to the table than just his toughness, but it is what saves him. He doesn't do anything particularly well, but it works. And that is kind of the point. There is plenty of method in his madness.
Parker started well, had success, and plenty of it. But Joyce breaks fighters down. And their hearts. At the minute, if you can't hurt him. You can't beat him. Joyce probably didn't get the credit for beating Daniel Dubois, but it will surely come now. Any lingering doubters will now have left town. Joyce, not for the first time, made his point. Plenty of his fellow heavyweights will have noticed.
It's difficult to see where Parker goes from here. It was his third defeat, and his most conclusive. And one that will be much harder to recover from. He drops further down the heavyweight queue, and if he fights on, Parker needs a call from the likes of Deontay Wilder or a Dillian Whyte for a fast track back up into heavyweight title contention. At 30, he is hardly old in a boxing sense and was his first defeat in four years. But will his heart really be in that long climb back up? I have my doubts.
Joyce 37, needs a title fight proper. And next. Oleksandr Usyk, if Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua do end up fighting in December, is the logical and obvious next step. Usyk vs Joyce is a fight of much intrigue. Picking a winner, won't be easy.
Last night was a throwback in many ways. A good old heavyweight scrap, with real title implications. Both Joyce and Parker could have said no, made legitimate excuses and sat and waited for their opportunity. And a word of appreciation should be given to Frank Warren and Ben Shalom for allowing their assets to share a ring together. Both fighters gambled their immediate fighting futures, and deserve immense credit for rolling the dice. The way boxing once was, and hopefully, it is a sign of things to come.
Photo Credit: Queensberry Promotions
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