Though you’d hardly know it from the lack of promotion, WBO heavyweight title holder Joseph Parker of New Zealand is set to defend his belt on the road against Hughie Fury. This is a really interesting fight between the two youngest members at the top of boxing’s historical glamour division and will likely set up a future opponent for either Anthony Joshua or the Deontay Wilder/Luis Ortiz winner.
At 25 and 23 respectively, New Zealand’s Joseph Parker (23-0, 18 KOs) and England’s Hughie Fury (20-0, 10 KOs), cousin of Tyson Fury, represent basically all the youth at the top of the heavyweight division. Heavyweight generally enter and stay in their prime much later than this, so it is entirely possible both of these guys will continue to improve for quite a while.
I don’t think they are equals right now though. Inevitably whenever someone discusses Hughie, the notion that he isn’t Tyson always comes out. While that is literally true, he isn’t that different either. He uses a herky jerky style to box on the outside much like his cousin. He just hasn’t displayed the same aptitude or athleticism for it, nor any real power at all for a big man, but their styles aren’t all that dissimilar.
Joe Parker also gets a bad rap for his last three performances, which is just kind of weird to me. Sure, he really disappointed against late replacement Razvan Cojanu, but he was also a last minute replacement that he had no time to prepare for and no real way to win in the court of opinion. There is also the claim that Parker could have lost to Carlos Takam or Andy Ruiz Jr had they had just a bit more gas to give, but he didn’t lose to them. He earned both decisions and those are damn good wins. They are better anything Deontay Wilder has done and were better than anything Anthony Joshua had done prior to the Klitschko fight.
When I look at this fight, I don’t see Fury being able to bother Parker or maintain distance. I do think it will be competitive because the Kiwi titleholder is there to be hit too, but I can’t picture a fight in which Fury is able to do more than him. I also can’t picture Hughie Fury narrowly edging Takam or Ruiz like Parker did. At 23, Hughie will likely keep improving, but at this point he strikes me as a step down for Parker from Takam and Ruiz.
I guess this fight is going to air on PPV in the states for $24.99 at 3 PM Eastern, but details are a bit fuzzy. Bizarrely in the UK it will be a Youtube PPV and have no traditional television presence at all. Boxing is extremely hot in the United Kingdom right now, but yet the undefeated cousin of one of their best known fighters going for a heavyweight title is somehow not really registering. I don’t get it. There are no notable undercard fights.
