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Anthony Joshua; Joseph Parker
At 32 years old, New Zealand’s Joseph Parker has one of the most impressive resumes in the heavyweight division.
After winning the vacant WBO World Title in a close contest with Andy Ruiz Jr, Parker made two successful defences before losing it in a unification bout with Anthony Joshua. He would suffer another defeat in his next outing against Dillian Whyte.
In a 2020 feature with the Ring Magazine, Parker weighed up his three toughest opponents: Joshua, Whyte and Ruiz. Whilst at that stage he said ‘AJ’ was the best overall and Whyte was the strongest, he says Mexican-American Ruiz hit him the hardest.
“Dillian Whyte did drop me, but with Ruiz, I really felt the sting in his punches. I think it was a left hook he caught me in our fight that hurt me. From that point on, in the whole fight, I was deaf in one ear.”
Joshua is regarded by most as one of the hardest punchers on the scene, but he doesn’t need Parker to tell him about the threat of Ruiz, who served him his first loss back in 2019 via stoppage. ‘AJ’ would comfortably win the rematch on the cards.
Ruiz made a return to the ring this year after a frustrating period of inactivity, scoring a controversial draw with Jarrell Miller in which he suffered a broken hand.
Since those words, Parker has been in the ring with some more heavy hitters. After a bruising stoppage loss to Joe Joyce – the first of his career – he gelled with coach Andy Lee and implemented an impressive career resurgence that saw him beat both Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang.
The victories leave Parker in as good a position as any of the current contenders. A contracted rematch with Zhang may be next if the Chinese southpaw doesn’t face Martin Bakole. If he does, Parker could be in with the likes of Agit Kabayel or Jarrell Miller.
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