Via Adam Baskin: Joseph Parker was amazingly knocked out by former heavyweight Jack Massey in 10 rounds last Saturday night at the AO Arena in Manchester, England.
Overall, Parker’s performance was disappointing as most of the top heavyweights in the league would easily overwhelm and take down little Massey, but he hasn’t been able to. What is evident in the fight is Parker lack of killer instinct.
Parker seems to have gone easy on Massey during the frequent sieges initiated by the British boxer, allowing the former cruiser to fail without hitting him in the head with a stick to make him stop holding out. .
At this point, Parker should give up his coach and come in with a new one to try to help him salvage what’s left of his career because that obviously doesn’t work with whatever coaching does. The current coach is working with him.
The fact that former WBO heavyweight champion Parker was unable to stop Massey (20-2, 11 KOs), who made his debut in the tournament, shows that he was missing something in his bout. which he will not get back.
Parker (31-3, 21 KOs) beat Massey 96-93, 97-92 and 97-93. Those scores suggest the match was a lot closer than you’d expect to see from Parker, who looked lackluster in the second half of the game and lost the aggression he showed from the start.
The way Parker fights, he will lose to many of the top 10 in the division and potentially even to cruisers such as Lawrence Okolie, Mairis Briedis, Richard Riakporhe and Jai Opetaia.
Parker is clearly not going to retire as he’s still making money as a junior boxer, but it’s fair to say that his days as a top player are over unless he turns things around. miraculously.
If Parker wants to revive his sinking career, he will need to focus on fighting better opponents because facing unknowns like Massey is a waste of his time. Parker won’t progress when a boxer faces a weaker opponent to set his record because he’s been in the game for too long fighting these hams & eggs.
A heavy cruiser, Massey was a good boxer, narrowly losing to Richard Riakporhe in the decisive 12th round. However, Massey failed to display the ability needed for him to win the world title in that weight class.
