Joseph Parker

[Stu Duncan]

(12-15-2015, 01:51 AM)tm7 Wrote: Also, JP up one spot with WBC to 10.

1. Glazkov           Fighting Martin
2. VACANT         
3. Wladimir         Rematch with Fury
4. Martin             To fight Glazkov
5. Teper              Has to face Helenius to regain his IC title early in 2016
6. Szpilka            Fighting Wilder for WBC - will be dropped
7. Cunningham   Dropping back to Cruiser
8. Joshua            
9. Takam
10. Parker

So 1 is fighting 4 for the vacant title
3 cant be considered for anything with the IBF as he has commitments
Teper had to defend his IC title against Helenius & will be fighting him early in 2016
Szpilka is now scheduled to face Wilder for the WBC - so he will most likely be dropped
Cunningham has declared he is moving to Cruiser & will be dropped when he is scheduled to fight at that poundage
Joshua - I am confident i know who he is facing next - not so risky
Takam isnt scheduled to fight and is available

So is 1 is fighting 4 for a vacant title - an eliminator will be made between 2 available top 10 rated boxers
The only ones available are Joshua - Takam & Parker
Then you have the vacant number 2 spot - 2 available boxers will also fight of for this position

Now consider Joseph has had a win since these ratings were done - so he will move up
Especially when you consider the Cunningham & Szpilka scenario's

So technically speaking Joe could be fighting in an eliminator of for the number 2 spot as early as April

Now put yourself in my position - 'who would you be looking closely at'

For mine - Parker beats Martin or Glazkov & yes we were mindful of this in selecting an opponent for January.

There are only 67 southpaws in the heavyweight division - its Joe's first southpaw opponent so we werent looking at the tricky veteran Thompson or any of the top 15 lefty's for his first hit out against one. Jeramiah Karpency was the one we wanted but he has suffered a neck injury and couldnt be considered. I chose Bergman because he has plenty of rounds experience and while he has a few blemishes on his record - he has only lost 2 in his last 18 outings. He KO'd an opponent 13-0 last year (1st round) and had a draw with another 13-0 prior to that. He also KO'd former US Olympian Devin Vargas 18-2 last year. So while were not out there pretending that Bergman is some world beater - he has enough credibility to be considered for Joe's first lefty in Samoa. Bergman is a game wiley boxer & Joe will be the 10th undefeated opponent he has faced in his career to date.

We have wanted tougher fights to bring Joe along in 2015 - Pettaway 17-1 - German Champ in Saglam we expected a tougher fight - Likewise with Tupou who was ranked WBO 13 - we expected more rounds against Kali considering he had the win over Cameron & taken the Super 8 series out - Martz was nearly 6'8 and 250lb's making him the biggest opponent Joe has faced and again considering he is strong we figured we'd get more rounds than we did ..

We offered - Johan Duhaupass (well before he was considered for Wilder) - Arnold Gjerjaj the undefeated current Euro Champ, Chris Areola - Travis Kauffman - Mariusz Wach before he was considered for Povetkin - we tried to make Chisora - we had offered Glazkov before he was IBF # 1 - Christian Hammer before his loss - Lucas Browne - Mark DeMori - Solomon Haumono - Fres oquendo (pre Chagaev) - Odlanier Solis - Kyotaro Fujimoto (WBC 15) - Andrey Fedesov - Shannon Briggs - Eddie Chambers - Malik Scott after he beat Leapai - Cunningham & Gerber ... I can assure you that decent money was offered to all - equally as much as theyd be offered to fight in the USA or abroad - and in some cases much more. All of these guys we felt were right for Joe in bringing him along. For the record thats 20 opponents who have all rejected fights with Joe .. and there are at least another 10 + on top of that - Marcin Rekowski, Rudenko (prior to Browne - in fact we had him scheduled to face Joe on the Klitschkop vs Leapai card and he pulled out with an injury) .. amongst others. 

I am providing you guys with this info to give you a little insight as to what goes on behind the scenes - makes it a little bit easier to understand how difficult it has been to secure solid opponents.  

In finishing - Joe has an exciting year ahead and hopefully he will be tested and get some valuable rounds in in April.