Betting Tip: Parker vs Fury

More big boxing action for the year will be getting underway on the weekend, this time far from the bright lights of Las Vegas as the Manchester Arena hosts the WBO Heavyweight title fight between Joseph Parker and Hughie Fury on Saturday. This is a fight between two young, hungry pugilists who are looking to climb their way up the sport. There is a little niggle between the two because this fight was supposed to happen in New Zealand earlier in the year, but Fury pulled out because of a back injury. Fury retained his position as mandatory challenger though but the fight got switched to Manchester. Parker remains favourite at 8/11 to win this, with challenger Fury at even money.

Parker Form

New Zealand’s Parker holds the WBO Heavyweight belt which he won against Andy Ruiz in Auckland last year. His only defence of the title came against Razvan Cojanu Back in May this year, again in Auckland and it was a really underwhelming performance from Parker to hold on to his belt. He got the Unanimous Decision to retain the title, but it wasn’t a good fight from him at all. His style is a little bit all over the place and that makes him dangerously unpredictable. He takes an unbeaten 23-0 career record into the fight and 18 of those have been won by a knockout. His last two fights though have gone to a decision.

Fury Form

This is the cousin of former world champion Tyson Fury. The young Hughie Fury lives and breaths boxing and has big ambitions to unify the division one belt at a time. It could all start here for him, and he has a promising future ahead of him which will be bolstered if he can get the title away from Parker. The 23-year-old is a former amateur world champion at the super-heavyweight division and will put his 20-0 pro-career record on the line. He has landed knockout wins in just half of those fights, so the fighter may need distance in this one. This is a big, big moment for him.

Betting Tip

Parker’s poor fight against Cojanu can be put down to lack of preparations. His opponent was a late replacement after Fury pulled out. But Tyson isn’t going to go down easily in this one and he should be able to stay the distance. It’s well worth looking at 8/11 for the fight to go the distance here. As for a winner, there is a 7/4 quote on either Fury by a decision or Parker by knockout. Of the two, because this is likely to go all the way, back Fury to hold out for points decision.