Perhaps it is the fact that Joseph Parker is a fighting man through and through that has appealed to his friends in the traveller community.
Parker is pals with former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and trained by Andy Lee; both decorated boxers who, as with Parker, liked to fight.
Parker has been running a gauntlet unlike many other heavyweights in recent times. You could contend that Daniel Dubois and Agit Kabayel have had similar runs, but Parker’s 13-month burst of victories over Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Martin Bakole carried him back up toward the top of the heavyweight pile.
But because he is a fighting man, the WBO’s interim beltholder on Saturday – rather than rest and wait in his guaranteed title shot position – boxes the WBA’s interim titlist Fabio Wardley, with both hoping victory will lead them to a fight against undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk.
They meet at London’s O2 Arena on a Queensberry Promotions show. Wardley is 19-0-1 (18 KOs), and was losing every round against Justis Huni before he unleashed his equaliser right hand in the 10th round to turn the fight on its head and leave Huni flat on his back in June.
But Parker had no intention of allowing rust to gather while waiting on Usyk.
“Maybe, yeah,” he said whether he felt he could have sat in his position and bided his time. “But it could be like waiting for a shot and then coming to the point where they [Team Usyk] have to make a decision and I still don’t get the shot. I just wanted to fight. I was training back in New Zealand with George Lockhart since March, April. We thought we were going to fight in July, August, September, now October. So to get a fight locked in, I’m just happy that we had a goal and a target to aim towards.”
New Zealand’s Parker is 36-3 (24 KOs) and he saw Wardley lay waste to Huni with one shot.
“It was a good fight,” Parker assessed. “Wardley did have moments in the fight but ultimately it was Justis that was controlling the fight from the beginning and then just got caught off that big right hand that he walked into. And that’s what makes boxing exciting because one punch, they always say one punch can change everything and that was a perfect example of one punch can change everything.”
Wardley recalled watching Parker defend his WBO heavyweight title against Anthony Joshua in 2018 while sat in a pub with friends. Parker had won the vacant title against Andy Ruiz in 2016.
Wardley, back then, was boxing in white-collar (he’d had just one such fight when Parker won the world title), but Parker acknowledges that now as a 33-year-old contender he is far removed from the fighter he was then, too.
“Yeah, the one [Parker] that I look back at now, 2016 against Ruiz and 2018 against Joshua, totally different fighter, different mindset, different preparation,” he said.
“I actually enjoy it now and love what I do whereas before I just did it because I thought I had to do it. So I think when you have the passion for the sport and you love it, it makes you train that much harder and put in that much more work to stay more focused and disciplined.”
Of course, the more traditional entry route into a high-level pro career – rather than white-collar boxing – is a decorated spell as an amateur, but regardless of Wardley’s interesting journey, Parker has full respect for his opponent.
“[It’s] very admirable, the way that he started off as a white-collar fighter and then what he’s done to progress to this position he’s in now, right? And also knockout percentage, [Wardley’s is] probably one of the highest, 18 knockouts [more than 95 per cent]. So he does possess power but the journey to get to where he is now has been admirable and impressive. Starting off, I’m fighting Andy Ruiz and he’s just had one white-collar background fight. So I think if you look at it as a whole, it’s just a great story.”
Wardley is coached by Ben Davison, who works with other leading heavyweights including Moses Itauma and Anthony Joshua. He’s coached Fury, too, and his job has been to refine Wardley’s ways while adding to his skillset.
Parker admits it is hard to tell to the untrained eye that Wardley’s start was comparatively unconventional.
“Only if you’re a real [boxing] person who’s been involved in boxing for a long time. It’s not until someone really says it that you can tell,” Parked explained. “But in the fights, they’ve said that he’s stepped it up a level each and every fight. In the previous fights or the recent ones, he’s always found a way to win. But for someone who hasn’t had that amateur background, it’s impressive what he’s done. Because everyone always goes from amateur and then into the professional scene and they do real well, whereas he’s had none of that.”
Parker admits he “was looking at Usyk” as his preferred next option.
Of course, there was the now standard – and always entertaining – Parker call-out video, offering the formidable Ukrainian a fight, but Parker also scoured the rankings and the schedule to see who was available.
“I went down the list and just said to [promoter] Frank [Warren] – [and] thanks to Frank for locking this fight, Spencer [Brown] and David [Higgins] – just whoever’s available, lock it in. “We need a fight.”
Parker’s run of form is not coincidental. His last four opponents have a combined record of 113-5-2, but after losing to Joe Joyce in one of the best fights of 2022, he knew change was needed.
“I’m leaving my family in New Zealand and going training in England,” he said to himself. “And I’m like, ‘Why am I not getting any better?’ ‘Why am I not progressing?’ So then you ask all these questions and then you make changes. And one change leads to the next… leads to the next. So then I got [nutritionist] George Lockhart for one of the fights that I had in Australia. And that’s been the biggest change. It’s the nutrition aspect, the strength and conditioning, the rest. I feel like in the past I’ve overtrained my body to the point where I’m tired in fights. I think I’ve been doing all this good work, then I get to the fight, I’m so tired after three or four rounds. Whereas now I’ve got the best balance and training and everything, you know, and leading into a fight. Even though the run that I’ve had has been great, we’re not really looking at the run. What we do is, I’m back in New Zealand with George and we just keep building away, keep building. I didn’t think you could do more than what we’re doing now and I didn’t think you could get any better, but what we’re doing in New Zealand, I just feel like we’re building this base and when it peaks it’s going to be amazing. Even I’m looking forward to seeing what I’m going to do, because I don’t know. I’ve been building away for the last five months.”
Parker believes his career could have looked different had he lined up with Lockhart and Lee earlier in his career, and maybe his losses to Joshua and Dillian Whyte would not have occurred, but he also knows the experiences he has been through have allowed his growth and development.
“I think you have to go through hard times in order to appreciate the great times,” he explained. “Once you have this, I’ve got George now, I’ve got Andy, I never want to lose it. I never want to take it for granted and I want to put in way more work and be way more disciplined. I always had the tenacity, I always had the drive, I never wanted to give up. I never wanted to fold in a fight. But when you’re not doing the right training, or when the training is not right, or when the food is not right, there’s no preparation for leading into a fight. But as a fighter, you think you’re ready no matter what you do.”
Lee’s busy and star-studded gym includes welterweight Paddy Donovan, super middleweight Hamzah Sheeraz and light heavyweight Ben Whittaker. Parker says it’s a quiet gym but one that’s loaded with energy, with Lee steering the ship.
And the affable New Zealander is happy to have his friend at the wheel, and he’s also grateful for Lockhart’s work. Before, Parker said he “had no structure to his diet”, but he has full faith in his team.
“I don’t even ask, I just say, ‘Just give me what I need to eat and we’ll go.”
It is not solely that Parker is a fighting man that is of appeal, but it is his willingness to take on all-comers that has earned him the right to say he is the fighter most deserving of a shot at the great Usyk. And it’s a fight that, with Lee and Lockhart behind him, he would be confident of winning.
