Boxing thread

[thierry henry]

I struggle to see a path to victory for Joe. I'm years past the point of expecting him to drop or stop a top fighter, and he no longer has (or has the reputation of having) an iron chin, so he'll need to fight cautiously. Dubois isn't going to have the pathetic work rate of Zhang or Wilder though, so he can't expect to win by just playing defence with an occasional flurry.

He's going to have to let his hands go a bit without getting caught, and while Dubois is not a master boxer, I struggle to see Joe staying out of harm's way.

 

[thierry henry]

Also I really hope Joe was bluffing when he talked about coming in at 260lbs+. Even 250 is too much, I don't really know why he was ever allowed to get above 240.

 

[Bahnz]

Yeah, Parker was on the heavy side for the Zhang fight. Dubois tends to weight in the high 240's - no reason Joe needs to be any heavier than that and should really be 10lbs lighter.

 

[thierry henry]

Yeah, Parker was on the heavy side for the Zhang fight. Dubois tends to weight in the high 240's - no reason Joe needs to be any heavier than that and should really be 10lbs lighter.

It's funny cos I feel like pundits often refer to Parker as a "small heavyweight" (not just short or short-ish, but small) which is demonstrably untrue given his actual fight weights are in the same ballpark as the massive "super heavyweights".

I don't really think he's naturally any smaller than Dubois, but you can see why that misconception would arise - Dubois is I would say at least an inch taller, has a more muscular upper body, but most importantly he HITS HARDER.

Nevertheless, you'd think Parker would get the hint from being called "small" that his ideal fighting weight is less than the big boys. Him/his team have always seemed to go the other way, and acted like the correct response to being "small" is to just add weight until you're not small anymore. Doesn't work like that.

 

[hendrix]

Dubois's reach advantage over Parker is fairly modest, and Parker won't be waltzing around with his hands at his waist and his chin in the air like Joshua did, so I think Dubois will have to work a lot harder for the W. Having said that, I tend to think Dubois knocks him out in 8 or 9 rounds. Dubois is a strong, active, heavy hitting fighter, suspect he'll try to follow the Joyce blueprint and look to outwork Parker and grind him down for a late round KO. Excellent fight though and thrilled that it's happened for Joe.

Zhang v Kabayel should be an interesting one as well. Well, the first 4 rounds will be anyway.

The work rate is the problem. Zhang and Wilder were perfect for Parker in some respects in that he could be cute and not have to work too hard.
Dubois has showed a (I suspect chemically enhanced) high work rate ever since his loss to Usyk.

The route to victory for Parker is to fight how he did in the first couple of rounds of the Whyte fight - basically outbox Dubois but from within the pocket. He will, of course, need to hurt Dubois which I think he is capable of doing.

 

[hendrix]

He's going to have to let his hands go a bit without getting caught, and while Dubois is not a master boxer, I struggle to see Joe staying out of harm's way.

He needs to fight with confidence in the way he was fighting against Whyte until the headbutt. He can do that, but I don't know for how many rounds. Particularly if he's planning to come in heavy.

 

[Niall]

Beterbiev vs. Bivol: The Last Crescendo | Boxing Event | Tapology

Beterbiev vs. Bivol takes place Saturday, February 22, 2025 with 7 fights at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia . View fight card, video, results, predictions, and news.

www.tapology.com

Sportwashing is evil, but sorry that's a proper card.

 

[hendrix]

Yeah if all those fights happen I don't think I've ever seen a better card than that.

 

[social]

Dubois has become massively overrated

His only wins of any substance are Joshua (who fought like a rank novice) and Hrgovic (who was woefully underprepared)