Parker: Ruiz hits harder than AJ
Joseph Parker rates Andy Ruiz a heavier puncher than Anthony Joshua.
Parker beat hard-nosed Mexican Ruiz over 12 rounds to win the WBO title in late 2016 but lost the belt to Joshua over 12 rounds in Cardiff on Sunday.
In a never-ending game of boxing bravado, Parker had the perfect response to some less than magnanimous comments from Joshua in the wake of his win, the first time he had been taken the distance in 21 fights.
While Joshua said it had been a pleasure to share the ring with Parker and he was sure the Kiwi would bounce back, he felt Parker’s supposed hand speed had been shown up, that he didn’t feel Parker had won any rounds, and he rated him behind Wladimir Klitschko and Carlos Takam in terms of difficult challenges.
When he was asked if he thought he hurt Parker’s ‘‘granite chin’’, Joshua said: ‘‘You’ll have to ask him. But I know that I was supposed to be in with the fastest heavyweight in the world and I beat him to the majority of punches. Yeah, actually, forget the humble s..., I did hurt him, and I bust his eye as well.’’
Parker can surely take kudos for being the only person Joshua hasn’t been able to knock out after 20 consecutive stoppages.
That’s a testimony to the Kiwi’s jaw and also a slight question mark about Joshua’s supposed legendary power as he clocked the Kiwi-samoan several times with power punches to little effect.
When quizzed about Joshua’s claims, Parker’s trainer Kevin Barry responded: ‘‘Joe mentioned to me afterwards, saying ‘It was funny, I thought the guy would hit harder than he actually did’.
‘‘There’s no reason for him to lie to me. He said that Andy Ruiz hit a lot harder than Joshua.
‘‘But we knew that coming into the fight. Anthony Joshua is a not a one punch knock out guy, he’s not going to knock you out with one punch, he is going to hit you with three or four punches and I think we saw that last night.
‘‘He’s a big guy and he has got muscles upon muscles but that doesn’t mean you are the heaviest puncher in the world.
‘‘Joe never looked like going down, he was never in any real trouble at all … coming back after each of the 11 rounds before the last completely clear, never fazed, never dazed.
‘‘The nick he got over the eye was Joshua hitting him with an elbow.’’
Barry brushed off Joshua’s list of claims, though he couldn’t resist a clever dig.
‘‘It’s a fighter making comments, sometimes fighters can be very arrogant and think they are better than they are. It would be nice to see him a bit more humble. He won the fight, it was a decent scrap, Joe gave him a lot of respect and I think deep down he respects Joe.’’
When Joshua was asked about the recent radical claims from WBC champion Deontay Wilder, his likely next opponent, who said he ‘‘wanted a body on my record, I really do’’, the big Brit seemed genuinely appalled.
‘‘I wouldn’t want a body on my record. I always say my little prayer in the corner,’’ Joshua said of acknowledging his opposition before fights.
‘‘I pray for success and I pray for his health and that he’ll be safe when he leaves the ring.’’