Auckland, New Zealand will host a Heavyweight fight this Thursday between up and coming Joseph Parker and veteran known quantity Sherman Williams. Right now at BetDSI’s Boxing odds boards, Parker is a solid (-1200) favorite over Williams, who returns at (+800).
Parker has run his record to a perfect (10-0), and he is trained by former Olympic Silver Medalist Kevin Barry. Parker already has won a couple of regional titles, and he has already had fights scheduled for 10 and 12 rounds, so at just 22 years old, you can consider that Parker is being groomed quickly to move up in the rankings. He is coming off an August win in Pennsylvania over Keith Thompson, giving him two wins in his US appearances, and he has a fight in Germany as well. More than anything, this is going to be a test of how far along Parker and his management are in terms of the fight game.
Williams is a veteran heavyweight who has five fights since 2010, going (2-2) with a NC against Evander Holyfield. He has been bringing in prospects and testing them for a while, as his outings with Manuel Charr, Robert Helenius and Gerald Washington all point to his status as a name trial horse for undefeated prospects. This is more of the same type of work for Williams, who is now 42 years old and he is highly unlikely to be making one final run at the top.
Aside from experience, Williams will have a roughly 20 pound weight advantage, as he has been fighting near 260, while Parker is in the 235-240 range. Parker, though, is considerably taller. Parker has experience against shorter opponents, as he won his PABA and WBO Oriental titles from the considerably shorter Brian Minto. Minto did not carry the weight Peter does, but Parker has also fought much heavier men, including the internationally experienced Franz Botha.
Also at the book right now is Saturday’s fight between Gennady Golovkin and Marco Antonio Rubio from the StubHub Center in California. This remains a match with a massive favorite in Golovkin, but sometime this week the line will be up for the extremely competitive and interesting co-main event bout between Nonito Donaire and Nicholas Walters. That match is likely to have a tight line when it hits the books.
Here is a piece from New Zealand TV when Parker was back 18 years old.
