Confident Haumono sees flaws in Kiwi fighter
There is so much to admire about Joseph Parker. He has speed and tenacity and skill and endurance and guts and humility and not in a million years is he ready to fight Anthony Joshua. Anyone who watched the primal savagery of the Joshua versus Dillian Whyte fight will fear for Parker’s health if he steps into the ring with Joshua right now.
Look, we all know that boxing promoters are part of the long tradition of stand-up comedians, but Dean Lonergan’s latest utterance was beyond a joke. He said: ‘‘The Joseph Parker freight train is coming and it’s going to run right over Anthony Joshua.’’
Right now Parker is more Joseph The Tank Engine than freight train. He is shiny and smiley and new, but he is not very threatening. On Saturday night Joseph the Tank Engine just about managed to shunt Carlos Takam into a siding.
It was an important win for his future prosperity, but it is hard to believe that Parker has the reach to succeed against the very top heavyweights.
It’s a question of reach. Yes, I apologise, it’s a pretty dull word when you’re riffling through the boxing lexicon of Norman Mailer and Jack London, but reach matters twice over. Unfortunately Parker has neither global reach nor physical reach. The only way a Samoan New Zealander is going to get the slot machines turning in Vegas is if he is what Mailer described as ‘‘the most frightening unarmed killer alive’’.
Parker did not frighten Takam or anyone else on Saturday night. Indeed the middle-aged Frenchman found the shameful rendition of La Marseillaise a good deal more scary than anything Parker had to offer. That was the only butchery that took place in the ring. Tyson Fury tweeted ‘‘respect’’, looked down and metaphorically patted Parker on the head.
The worry for Parker fans is that he is just not big enough. Yes, Muhammad Ali won his Olympic gold at light heavyweight, but Ali was a freak of nature. He was super quick and super smart and had a big punch for a man of his size.
But for all his brilliance, Ali intimidated people rather than terrified them. No heavyweight has ever moved or talked like Ali.
George Foreman was terrifying. He destroyed opponents until Ali did a number on him. Jack Johnson, the first black champion, terrified people. A newspaper called The San Francisco Call sent London, author Solomon Haumono believes he has the power to expose the flaws in Joseph Parker’s game he witnessed first hand last weekend.
Australian Haumono, a 40-yearold former NRL star with 21 knockout wins to his name since 2000, was confirmed as Parker’s next opponent with the fight scheduled for Christchurch’s Horncastle Arena on July 21.
Haumono revealed he was in the crowd at the Manukau Events Centre last Saturday night watching Parker beat Carlos Takam by a unanimous points decision to claim the IBF’s mandatory position to challenge world champion Anthony Joshua.
‘‘It was a great night that Joseph of the Call of the Wild, all the way to Sydney to cover Johnson’s title challenge against Tommy Burns in 1908. That’s reach. put on for the fans,’’ Haumono said politely, before adding, ‘‘there were many flaws there I believe.’’
Parker and his trainer Kevin Barry
London describes Johnson mocking Burns, inviting him to ‘‘hit here Tahmy’’ in a faux genteel accent and then laughing when the conceded it was a far from perfect performance against Takam. They got the job done and emerged with rich reward, but now there could be no sloppy moments as they awaited their mandatory challenge, risking those rights with every fight.
Haumono, with the usual talk that has come from Parker’s 19 victims to date, gave himself a real shot of an upset though admitted few others would.
‘‘Outside of my team, the whole of of New Zealand and those here believe that I’m no chance,’’ Haumono said, addressing a media conference in Auckland yesterday to confirm the fight.
‘‘But when has an Aussie ever laid down for a Kiwi?
‘‘I’m here to fight. I believe that I can win. Joseph is at the top of his game but I believe I bring power to blow struck. London called Johnson, ‘‘undertaker, gravedigger and sexton’’ and wrote: ‘‘The Fight. There was no the table. No one that he has faced has the power that I bring to the table. It’s a good challenge.’’
The two fighters already have history. Last year Parker handed over one of his many belts, the WBA’s Pan Asian version, refusing to take Haumono’s mandatory challenge as he targeted bigger things.
Haumono went on to beat Argentina’s Manuel Alberto Pucheta in unimpressive fashion last month to claim that vacant title. ‘‘I’ve already got one of his belts. I’m sorry to say, but with one punch I can also take his dream,’’ Haumono said.
Parker’s trainer Barry was eager to highlight the risks but privately knows that if Parker’s challenge to Joshua is to be taken seriously, then a statement win must be made in Christchurch. fight. No Armenian massacre could compare with the hopeless slaughter that took place in the Sydney stadium today.’’
Johnson was known as the Galveston Giant and put the fear of God into people. They built a stadium to take the 22,000 fans for Johnson’s fight against the undefeated Jeffries, scheduled for 45 rounds in 43 degree heat.
Both president Taft and Conan Doyle were asked to ref the contest. 1500 fans crashed over the fence to see the fight and the promoter did not sue them, but instead listed them as complimentary. Scalped tickets were going for $125 in 1910. The fight was billed as ‘The Battle of the Giants’.
The modern fighter is also gigantic. The two great champions of the past 25 years, Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko, both won Olympic gold at super heavyweight. Joshua is another such machine. He is enormous. He is bigger, stronger and fitter than Parker at the moment. And he has reach.
Lewis had a 213cm reach and opponents couldn’t get past his brutal jab. Of the current top heavyweights, Klitschko’s reach is 206cm, Joshua’s is 208cm and Tyson Fury’s is 216cm. Parker’s reach is 193cm. How is he going to double up his jab if he can’t get in range?
Parker is an outside fighter who would have to go to the inside against the big men and he isn’t powerful enough to win in the clinch. Only Mike Tyson had the brutality to win at that game, and even he struggled once the fear factor had gone.
Joshua has the fear factor. He has won all his professional fights by knockout and no one yet has managed to put him on the floor. Whyte hit him with a couple of deathly punches and still Joshua did not go down. The champion then buried Whyte with a big right hand and a final uppercut. Even the commentators were dripping sweat.
Parker said: ‘‘Joshua is the IBF champion of the world but when the opportunity comes, we’ll take it and I feel like it is our time.’’
The young man has a shot at the title, but many judges don’t think it much of a shot. Jeff Aranow, writing for Boxing News, called Parker ‘‘unimpressive’’, ‘‘stamina poor’’, ‘‘nothing special’’ and ‘‘ready to be knocked out’’. Bob Jones said he is ‘‘nowhere near the top echelon’’.
A Parker victory over Joshua would rank up there with Buster Douglas’s defeat of Tyson. Most bookmakers wouldn’t even give odds for that fight and yet Douglas won. Victory is not impossible for Parker, but it would be a massive shock and his reign as champion would be about as long as Douglas who was beaten by Evander Holyfield in his first defence.
Parker has a shot, but it is a long shot, and you just have to pray that Joshua doesn’t storm the building before Parker gets that shot off.