Before the Joseph Parker vs. Fabio Wardley fight, the latter remembered watching the Kiwi face Anthony Joshua. The two were in different positions in their career back then. Who would have thought fate would bring them together like this? But when fate did, Parker, WBO interim heavyweight champion at the time, came into the Saturday night fight as a heavy favorite to win. That’s what gave boxing journalist Chris Mannix the confidence to say what he said. 

“This is the safest bet you can make in recent heavyweight championship fight history,” Mannix told Sergio Mora a day before the fight on DAZN’s The Fighter vs. Writer podcast episode 29. “If you’ve got a savings account… If you’ve got a child’s tuition… If you’ve got one bet to save your life, put it on Joseph Parker.” To Mannix, this was a fight between a domestic-level and an elite-level fighter. Boxing has a way of surprising people, and Mannix was about to learn that. 

A petty shot from the son of Mike Tyson

When the night finally came in England’s O2 Arena, the British heavyweight pulled off the biggest win of his career, causing an upset for Joseph Parker. Wardley swallowed several huge punches before forcing referee Howard Foster to stop the contest in an explosive 11th round. This win, of course, sets up the 30-year-old for a title shot against the division’s undisputed king, Oleksandr Usyk. But before that, the son of the legendary Mike Tyson took notice.

Amir J. Tyson was amused by hearing Mannix’s confident rant about betting against Wardley to make a bank, just for the journalist to be proven wrong. Earlier today, Amir took to Instagram, sharing Mannix’s clip on his story, alongside a stinging jab at the seasoned journalist. “Aged like milk,” Amir wrote in the caption of the post. The betting odds for Parker vs. Wardley had the Kiwi winning at -400, while Wardley was the underdog at +300.  

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Mike Tyson, Amir’s legendary father, of course, fought in the heavyweight division as well. And he, too, wasn’t safe from upset losses. Tyson fought James ‘Buster’ Douglas on February 11, 1990, in Tokyo, Japan. The fight, one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, saw Douglas knock out Tyson in the 10th round to claim the undisputed heavyweight title. Douglas was a 42-1 underdog, and Tyson’s record at the time was 37-0.

Coming back to the Parker-Wardley fight, though, the 33-year-old doesn’t want to dwell on the past. 

Joseph Parker wants to take it on the chin and move on

Parker has taken his upset stoppage loss to Wardley with remarkable grace. After the referee waved off their fight in the 11th round, many felt the decision was premature, but Parker refuses to dwell on it.  “I did feel that the fight was going back and forth, and I was leading on the scorecards,” Parker told The Ariel Helwani Show.

“When the ref jumped in, I was like, ‘Hey, I’m fine.’ But I guess it’s not my job to decide whether or not the fight can continue.” Despite losing his WBO interim heavyweight title and a potential shot at Oleksandr Usyk, Parker remains composed. “I can sit here and complain… but it’s not going to change anything,” he said. 

“Boxing is very unpredictable. What’s the best way to overcome it? You just have to accept it and move on, because if you keep thinking about it, it’s just going to eat away at you.”

It appears Joseph Parker has started to recover from his loss to Wardley, but did Chris Mannix recover from his wildly inaccurate prediction? What did you think of Amir’s comment?