10-07-2022, 01:05 PM
The disappearance of Joseph Parker
Duncan Johnstone
09:26, Oct 05 2022
Joseph Parker is facing a major rebuild as the impact of his knockout loss to Joe Joyce is quickly felt in the heavyweight boxing rankings.
Parker, suffering the first knockout loss of his professional career in Manchester last month, has done a disappearing act with most of the major organisations.
Parker has dropped out of the top 15 rankings at the WBA, WBC and IBF.
A brave Joseph Parker went down fighting in an 11th round knockout loss to Joe Joyce in Manchester.
He is still listed at No 2 with the WBO, but that organisation has yet to adjust their rankings that had Joyce ahead of Parker at No 1 and now holding their interim belt following the 11th round KO at Manchester Arena.
Parker had gone into fight month at No 3 with the WBC and No 10 with the WBA.
He wasn’t ranked at the IBF after turning down an eliminator fight with Filip Hrgovic earlier this year to see who could be No 1 there.
Given the questionable rankings systems involved with sanctioning fees, perhaps the best indicator of Parker’s true position in the heated division lies with the independent rankings at the hugely respected Ring magazine.
The loss has seen Parker (30-3) drop from No 4 to No 7. The victorious Joyce (15-0) has risen from No 8 to No 3 with his impressive performance that has put the division on notice.
There’s a slight caveat with the Ring rankings though. They currently don’t include Tyson Fury after he handed in their heavyweight belt. Fury remains the WBC champion though and is a major player in the current scene as the division eagerly seeks a unification fight between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk who holds the WBA, WBO and IBF belts as well as the Ring version.
But retaining a top 10 ranking with Ring is significant for Parker, giving him legitimacy at the elite level where he has spent 338 weeks on their list, bettered only by Wilder (462 weeks) and Joshua (361).
Parker is adamant he remains relevant and is eager to return to action before the end of the year.
Meaningful fights and worthy pay days still await him, but the 30-year-old will clearly need some big results to get his name back into any title conversations.
A look at those close to him in the Ring rankings might help his route back.
Ring Magazine Heavyweight Rankings
Champion - Oleksandr Usyk, 1 Anthony Joshua, 2 Deontay Wilder, 3 Joe Joyce, 4 Andy Ruiz, 5 Dillian Whyte, 6 Luis Ortiz, 7 Joseph Parker, 8 Filip Hrgovic, 9 Frank Sanchez, 10 Zhilei Zhang.
Duncan Johnstone
09:26, Oct 05 2022
Joseph Parker is facing a major rebuild as the impact of his knockout loss to Joe Joyce is quickly felt in the heavyweight boxing rankings.
Parker, suffering the first knockout loss of his professional career in Manchester last month, has done a disappearing act with most of the major organisations.
Parker has dropped out of the top 15 rankings at the WBA, WBC and IBF.
A brave Joseph Parker went down fighting in an 11th round knockout loss to Joe Joyce in Manchester.
He is still listed at No 2 with the WBO, but that organisation has yet to adjust their rankings that had Joyce ahead of Parker at No 1 and now holding their interim belt following the 11th round KO at Manchester Arena.
Parker had gone into fight month at No 3 with the WBC and No 10 with the WBA.
He wasn’t ranked at the IBF after turning down an eliminator fight with Filip Hrgovic earlier this year to see who could be No 1 there.
Given the questionable rankings systems involved with sanctioning fees, perhaps the best indicator of Parker’s true position in the heated division lies with the independent rankings at the hugely respected Ring magazine.
The loss has seen Parker (30-3) drop from No 4 to No 7. The victorious Joyce (15-0) has risen from No 8 to No 3 with his impressive performance that has put the division on notice.
There’s a slight caveat with the Ring rankings though. They currently don’t include Tyson Fury after he handed in their heavyweight belt. Fury remains the WBC champion though and is a major player in the current scene as the division eagerly seeks a unification fight between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk who holds the WBA, WBO and IBF belts as well as the Ring version.
But retaining a top 10 ranking with Ring is significant for Parker, giving him legitimacy at the elite level where he has spent 338 weeks on their list, bettered only by Wilder (462 weeks) and Joshua (361).
Parker is adamant he remains relevant and is eager to return to action before the end of the year.
Meaningful fights and worthy pay days still await him, but the 30-year-old will clearly need some big results to get his name back into any title conversations.
A look at those close to him in the Ring rankings might help his route back.
Ring Magazine Heavyweight Rankings
Champion - Oleksandr Usyk, 1 Anthony Joshua, 2 Deontay Wilder, 3 Joe Joyce, 4 Andy Ruiz, 5 Dillian Whyte, 6 Luis Ortiz, 7 Joseph Parker, 8 Filip Hrgovic, 9 Frank Sanchez, 10 Zhilei Zhang.