Joseph Parker vs Simon Kean Preview October 28th, 2023
Former WBO Heavyweight champion Joseph Parker of New Zealand returns to the ring this Saturday, October 28th in Saudi Arabia Australia when he takes on Simon Kean of Canada in a 10-round battle. The fight can be seen live on ESPN+ in America while those in the UK can see it on TNT Box Office and other nations can check it out on pay per view and DAZN pay per view. Parker last fought in May when he stopped Faiga Opelu in just 89 seconds. Kean was in the ring in March when he halted Eric Molina in the seventh round.
Parker vs Kean Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Simon Kean +600
- Joseph Parker -1000
My Pick
The 31-year-old Parker enters the bout with a mark of 32-3 with 22 Ko’s. He won the regular WBO title in December, 2016 by beating Andy Ruiz Jr. by majority decision but lost it via unanimous decision to Anthony Joshua in March, 2018 in a unification bout. His second defeat was a controversial 12-round unanimous decision to Dillian Whyte in August, 2018 for the vacant WBO International and the WBC Silver Heavyweight Titles and his third and last loss was to Joe Joyce in September, 2022 when he was stopped in the 11th round of a slugfest for the vacant interim WBO Crown.
Parker has good power in his punches as 68.8 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage but has gone the distance in nine of his last 14 fights with all three of his losses coming in his last 11 outings. Earlier in his career, Parker’s power was his strong point but he’s had to depend on his boxing skills and hand speed more often in the past few years. He went the distance five times in a row from 2016 to 2018 against Whyte, Joshua, Hughie Fury, Razvan Cojanu and Ruiz before stopping Alexander Flores, Alex Leapai and Shawndell Winters all in a row between December, 2018 and February, 2020.
Since then, he’s beaten Junior Fa and Dereck Chisora (twice) by decisions before falling to Joyce and rebounding a points win over Jack Massey and the stoppage of Opelu. Parker needs to improve his stamina so he can fight the full three minutes of every round if he’s forced to. He landed several bombs against Joyce last year but was worn down and out of gas when stopped with just five minutes to go in the fight. Parker won the WBO Oriental Heavyweight Championship by stopping Brian Minto in seven rounds in 2014 and has won several other regional heavyweight titles in his part of the world including the WBO Oriental Title and the OPBF Crown.
He also has wins over Alexander Dimitrenko, Carlos Takam, Marcelo Luiz Nascimento, Kali Meehan, Bowie Tupou, Jason Pettaway, Frans Botha and Sherman Williams. Parker turned pro in 2005 after an excellent amateur career and has 223 rounds under his belt since. He also has decent size for a modern-day heavyweight at 6-feet-4-inches with a 76-inch reach. Parker’s not the most athletic and mobile boxer in the ring though and generally has trouble against fleet-footed and mobile opponents.
He also leaves himself open for counter shots but doesn’t mind taking one or two punches to land one of his own. His chin has been pretty reliable so far after being tested quite often even though he was halted by Joyce. Parker needs to instill a killer instinct as he staggered Joyce on several occasions and waited far too long to go after Dillian Whyte as he virtually had him out on his feet just as the bell rang and paid the price for not letting his hands go earlier.
As for the 34-year-old Kean, the native of Trois Rivieres, Quebec makes the ring walk with an impressive mark of 23-1 with 22 Ko’s and has boxed 91 rounds since making his pro debut in 2015 following an amateur career of 54-14 which saw him reach the 2015 Canadian Elite Amateur National Championships as well as the 2011 Senior Elite Tournament and the 2009 Pan American Championships. The high point came in 2012 though when he boxed at the Olympics in London, England, where be beat Tony Yoka but lost to Ivan Dychko.
Kean measures 6-feet-5-inches tall with an unlisted reach, so is an inch taller than Parker. As far as power is concerned he has more than enough to cause some serious damage as 21 of his 22 wins have come by stoppage for a current knockout ratio of 95.6 per cent. His lone defeat came at the hands of Dillon Carmon when he was stopped in the fourth round in 2018 to lose his WBC Francophone Heavyweight Title and miss out on the vacant NABA Belt.
The only win Kean had to go the distance in was an eight-round unanimous decision over Avery Gibson in 2018. He won the vacant IBO Inter-Continental Heavyweight Title in 2017 when he halted Marcelo Nascimento in the fifth round. He also has wins over Randy Johnson, Mike Marrone, Travis Fulton, Alexis Santos, Adam Braidwood, Siarhei Liakhovich and Shawndell Winters after being dropped in the sixth round. Kean also won the WBC International Silver Heavyweight Belt in 2020 when he stopped Daniel Martz in the third round.
Prediction…
Parker’s a solid heavyweight contender while Kean has tons of raw power but hasn’t consistently faced the same level of competition that Parker has. Still, this has the potential to be quite a slugfest and could possibly be the fight of the night. Parker sometimes struggles against lower-grade opponents and seems to save his best performances for the upper-echelon heavyweights as he did against Joyce, Ruiz, Joshua, Chisora and Whyte even though he didn’t win all of those fights. Parker has been hanging around with Tyson Fury in England lately but better be focused on this fight as Kean has the power to put his lights out. As long as Parker lets his hands go and his chin holds up though he should earn another win here but I certainly wouldn’t bet the farm on it. It is likely to end in a stoppage though.
Parker’s experience should be the difference but his chin will definitely need to hold up.
Play Parker -1000 @ BetOnline.ag
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Joseph Parker betting • Simon Kean betting