Former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker believes unbeaten opponent Junior Fa made a big mistake by not going forward with their scheduled fight on December 12 Auckland. (photo by Photosport)
The fight was pushed back to February 27, after Fa underwent surgery an undisclosed medical issue. Fa and his handlers felt it was best to keep the medical issue a secret to avoid a scenario of Parker gaining an advantage with the information.
Parker revealed that he himself was injured and banged up during that training camp, but still intended to move forward with their contest at less than 100%.
Once the fight was officially postponed, Parker decided to have surgery on both of his elbows.
Parker expects to be a lot stronger and overall better in February.
"They should have taken me on [on the original date] because I was training with injuries," Parker said.
"By February 27 I'm gonna be way better. Stronger, faster, no injuries and no problems."
Parker explained that his elbows were operated on back in 2018, in the months leading up to his unification with Anthony Joshua, who handed the Kiwi fighter his first career defeat. Both surgeries were done to remove bone fragments.
He intends to start training camp in the coming weeks.
"The first surgery was very successful but over time with everything we're doing - throwing a lot of punches, doing a lot of weights, more bone keeps growing. It's not easy to train with injuries and pain," Parker said.
"With sparring there was a lot of inflammation, swelling but with the surgery that I had it will be all cleared. I'm not able to punch yet - I'll probably be able to punch in the first week of January when we start camp."
