Beware the Rusty Charley knockout

There’s an old passage from Damon Runyon, the newspaperman and author who brought 1920s Prohibition-era Broadway, gangsters, boxers, gamblers and hustlers to life, involving a bloke called Rusty Charley.

It goes like this: “Then he steps up to one of the ice-wagon horses and hauls off and biffs it right between the eyes with a right-hand smack that does not travel more than four inches, and down goes old Mister Horse to his knees looking very much surprised indeed.

“I see many a hard puncher in my day, including Dempsey when he really can punch, but I never see a harder punch than Rusty Charley gives this horse.”

Rusty Charley was the villainous character in one of Runyon’s fictional short stories, Blood Pressure (later made into a famous musical, Guys and Dolls). The scene came to mind when I looked at the TAB odds for Joseph Parker’s fight against Dillian Whyte.

I consider Parker a slight favourite but, after viewing the odds, I thought about Rusty Charley and the horse . . . and Dempsey, which just happens to be the first name of Parker’s dad (superstition alert), named after Jack Dempsey.

It’s difficult to pick this fight’s winner — a rarity — but you admire the courage of Whyte and Parker taking each other on. A loss may retard the loser’s career “more than somewhat”, as Runyon would say.

And while I think Parker’s plan will be to use his jab and speed to tire Whyte before trying to take him out later in the fight, there is always the chance that Parker could be the ice-wagon horse and Whyte could give it the Rusty Charley.

Whyte is dangerous. He has power and knockout potential. He is the sort of heavyweight many champions dodge. There is also a big tough guy, Runyonesque legend that has grown up around Whyte — how his street life apparently saw him stabbed three times, shot twice, once digging the bullet out of his leg using a pair of pliers and a cigarette lighter. Still, this is boxing where the word “legend” often assumes its classical meaning.

What worries me about Parker is the talk about “redemption” after his rather muted loss to Anthony Joshua. He and David Tua — in his heavyweight world title fight against Lennox Lewis — were oddly quiet and off the pace, as if the occasion got to them. It fuelled critics who said both were more focused on getting through the fight than winning it.

Such critiques are unfair. Tua and Parker were smaller men, kept at bay by much bigger opponents who used their reach well.

But the talk about how Parker needs to be entertaining and produce a knockout is worrying.

If that is indeed the game plan, he will be exposing himself to Whyte’s hooks and power shots, planting his feet and standing still. It doesn’t seem a good idea and it’s far more likely this is all just prefight bunkum and Parker (who showed excellent defence against Joshua; it was his offence that let him down) will use his feet and jab and wait until Whyte is fatigued.

Both can take a punch — Parker wasn’t hit that often by Joshua and survived what did reach him.

It’s taking it much too far to say that the loser will have a punctured career; both have lost only once (to Joshua) and Parker is only 26. There’s plenty of time but what is worthy of salute is that both could have chosen easier options.

Parker could have contented himself with what Americans call “tomato cans” to build back up to a title shot. Instead, he has put a lot more on the line.

Whyte is 30 and has a potential crack at Deontay Wilder in the offing too, so has more to lose and thus enhanced motivation. The possibility he could land his own knockout blow on the hardpunching Wilder is part of the reason he has been kept waiting for another title shot while Wilder does a reunification dance with Joshua.

Whyte has done everything asked of him since his loss — seeing off Dereck Chisora (though many thought Chisora shaded that knock’em-down, drag-’em-out bout), big Finn Robert Helenius and giving Australian heavyweight Lucas Browne an almighty smack.

If Parker defends and scores well, he should win.

A knockout doesn’t really enter into it. Unless, of course, Parker walks into a Rusty Charley.