Opinion: Joseph Parker fight - I'm just not that excited

(Photosport)
(Photosport)

I know I should be excited about Joseph Parker's heavyweight title bout with Andy Ruiz, but I'm struggling.

I'm putting it down to promotion fatigue.

Parker has a shot at a heavyweight world title. This will be the biggest fight of his career.

But when we've constantly been told each of his previous fights was the biggest of his career, it starts to lose its impact. I'm older than I've ever been today, but I'll wait for my birthday to make a big deal about it. And even then I'll wait for a significant one before I bake a cake.

That's not only left a lot of Parker's fights to underdeliver, but given no true gauge of the level of opposition.

Of the 21 men Parker's traded blows with, only Carlos Takam is currently rated by BoxRec.com inside the top 20 heavyweights in the world, and only two others of those rated feature in the top 100.

Despite what we've been told, has Parker really gone up against real opposition in the ring? If Parker has been climbing the ranking ladder, how far has he really climbed, and is he ready to be at the top?

I get that it's Duco's job to promote Parker, but David Higgins says Parker winning the title is comparable to Sir Edmund Hillary conquering Everest is taking things a little too far. A lot of the other voices are also supplied care of Duco, leaving the discussion void of much independent comment. Plus having the message delivered from a local Burger King outlet doesn't exactly add to its credibility.

Duco's move to get local and central Government on board with funding also didn't win them many fans. This fight will make money. A lot of it. Some estimates put the revenue from the fight upwards of $7 million, and that could be on the conservative side. Duco have already stated it's costing them around $4.5 million to put the fight on, meaning their maths is about $2.5 million off.

So how big is this fight?

Of the boxing organisations the WBO is arguably the lesser of the big four, but a world title is still a world title. It won't make Parker THE heavyweight world champion of the world if he wins, but he will still be A world champion.

The other big question is how good is Andy Ruiz, or possibly who is Andy Ruiz? I'll be the first to admit I'm not a massive boxing fan but I've still heard the names Klitschko, Fury, Wilder, Joshua and Haye plenty. If a world title is on the line, shouldn't we have heard of the guy fighting for it a bit more? And the Mexican's physique hardly shouts champion of the world.

In the convoluted world of boxing, rankings are hard to go off. Parker is ranked no 1 by the WBO and Ruiz no 3, but that doesn't include other title holders Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua. And Parker and Ruiz don't currently feature on the other organisation's rankings because they have a title fight. One of the more nonpartisan ratings in the sport, Ring Magazine has Parker ranked sixth in the division, and Ruiz 10th. The supposedly independent Transnational Boxing Rankings have the Kiwi seventh and Ruiz unranked outside the top 10. BoxRec.com is even harsher on the Mexican, putting him 21st among heavyweights.

Will Parker win? Probably.  If he does, it will be a historic win for Parker and New Zealand boxing. On that alone it does make the fight worth watching, if you're willing to fork out for it.

After all, it will be the biggest fight of his career, at least until the next one.