Fight needs to be decided in the ring

Joseph Parker’s camp are trumpeting the removal of Britain’s Terry O’Connor as referee for his WBO world heavyweight title defence in Manchester but there’s the feel of a double-edged sword to the change.

Parker will still have a Brit as the third man in the ring at Manchester Arena on Sunday (NZT) with Marcus McDonnell elevated from the judging bench to control the fight.

O’Connor is still involved, moving to running one of three scorecards in the judging team.

It’s basically a shuffling of the deck chairs, a compromise, but one that Team Parker feel comfortable with and see as a minor victory in the battle ahead of the real war.

Here are the pros and cons to the switch made under pressure by the British Boxing Board of Control.

PROS

The Parker camp were never comfortable with O’Connor. They didn’t like his recent history with Hughie Fury, having refereed the big Brit’s last two fights. It was a decent argument and eventually justified by their squeaky wheel approach of going public with it repeatedly. Make enough noise and hope someone listens, as they eventually did.

Privately there were also concerns about how O’Connor would control things as the referee will play a vital role in setting the tone of the fight with what he will allow and what he won’t. Against an awkward fighter like Fury who will surely look to slow down the fight, keeping the bout active is essential for Parker.

The respected McDonnell brings almost as much experience as O’Connor and much of it is recent – McDonnell handled last weekend’s WBO world middleweight title fight between Billy Joe Saunders and Willie Monroe Jr in London and this will be the fourth world title bout he has refereed in 2017.

If the fight is officiated in the right manner, Team Parker believe it will increase their man’s chances of a knockout which they believe is very attainable.

CONS

There still isn’t the desired refereeing neutrality that Team Parker say was agreed on when the fight was confirmed. Despite the change, the board of control have still stuck to their guns and will have a local man in charge of the fight.

And it can be argued that O’Connor is now in a position of more influence being in charge of a pen rather the fight. Human nature would suggest he won’t be the happiest boxing official right now, given his demotion. But he is a hugely experienced professional and deserves the presumption he will act in a fair manner as his bosses have insisted from the outset.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to judging title fights. One says the challenger has to earn the belt with a decidedly superior performance, anything marginally close suggests he’s not done quite enough to claim the spoils. The other says judges tend to look more favourably on the home fighter, unintentionally swayed by outside influences like the vocal home support.

So the risks remain for the Kiwi and the governing body, especially without the neutrality that a fight of this stature surely demands.

CONCLUSION

This official shuffle is a points victory to the Kiwi camp ahead of the fight but nothing more.

Parker, for the safety of his belt, needs a knockout victory. We have heard in the buildup that he is capable of taking the referee out of the equation with his punching power and that clearly is the safest option in a title defence in his opponent’s backyard.

Fury is skilled and has the ability to frustrate. He has a highly accurate jab that, combined with his elusive footwork, gives him the ability to rack up points.

A KO is still the safest way to go for Parker.