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Boxing: It's make or break time for Joseph Parker
8 Jul, 2018

Joseph Parker had never sparred 10 rounds on consecutive days until last week. Photo / PhotosportJoseph Parker had never sparred 10 rounds on consecutive days until last week. Photo / Photosport

By: Patrick McKendry
Sports writer

There will be much more than a title on offer when Kiwi heavyweight Joseph Parker gets in the ring with Dillian Whyte in exactly three weeks, writes Patrick McKendry.
Joseph Parker has one week of training left at his Las Vegas base before he travels with his team to London for his "redemption" fight against Dillian Whyte, one which could make him or go close to breaking him.

The stakes are that high. There is no world title on offer against Whyte at London's O2 Arena, which will be filled with the Englishman's vocal supporters, but the next big fight for the winner could be another shot at Anthony Joshua or Deontay Wilder; titles and riches await at the end of those roads.

The alternative hardly bears thinking about.

The 26-year-old Kiwi needs to beat Whyte and the only way he will do that is if he hurts him, something he couldn't do against Joshua in their world title unification bout in Cardiff in April, or Hughie Fury in Manchester last December, or Razvan Cojanu in Auckland in May last year.

Parker must break Whyte down and fortunately for the South Aucklander, he probably won't have to take too many risks to do so. Whyte, 30, will be there to be hit and so Parker must oblige with power and combinations.

"In our last couple of fights, our offence has become a bit dormant," trainer Kevin Barry told the Herald on Sunday. "It's time to wake it up."

This is something Parker has been working on in sparring the past three weeks. He is getting through both quality and quantity, the latter an indication of his motivation to get back to the top after he lost his WBO world heavyweight title to Joshua.

Parker had never sparred 10 rounds on consecutive days until last week and he will probably do so again before flying to London a week on Tuesday. Parker stayed in shape after reaching career-best condition for the Joshua fight and that discipline is paying off during this short six-week camp.

Against Joshua, Parker struggled to close the distance and, when he did, either failed to follow up or was prevented from doing so by the incompetence of the referee. Against Whyte, Parker must fight a Joshua-like strategy of controlling the distance and then being deadly when Whyte is in range.

"We need to pick our moments against Dillian," Barry said. "We won't need to chase him, we know he's going to be there. It's no secret this is a dangerous fight for Joseph but it's also a very dangerous fight for Dillian Whyte. This is our redemption fight.

"There's millions of dollars on the line for both guys in this fight. More than anything, what I need from Joe is controlled aggression. I need Joe to fight to the game plan and not to deviate from that.

"They mirror each other in all aspects from height to reach and records. Joe has better skills than this guy and I need Joe to use that skill. Dillian Whyte is a big, strong, powerful, physical guy. He brings a very aggressive game.

"We respect him as a fighter and we respect his power. He's durable and he comes to fight. He's got a good left hook and he punches well to the body.

"Dillian Whyte likes to engage and it works for him but it's also a style we aim to expose. Distance in this fight will be key. If we control the distance, we'll control the fight. If we let Whyte bullrush us and fight in close quarters, it's going to be a very taxing fight."

Parker, who earned about $10 million from the Joshua fight, will make just over $1 million from the Whyte bout. And there are many more millions on offer should he bounce back from the first loss of his professional career with a win.

With Joshua announcing his next two fights will be at Wembley (including his next one against Alexander Povetkin in September), it's possible, given the failure to make the Joshua-Wilder fight this year, Parker could fight Joshua there in the second next April.

"There are a couple of things that are really important in this fight," Barry said. "The most important thing for us is our commercial viability moving forward. We must have a big performance. Joe must put on a display, he must use those fast, powerful combinations which took him all the way to winning the world title."

I see JP isnt ranked by the WBA. Im thinking maybe they dont rank World champs coming off a loss untill they have another fight? Crazy that Fres Oquendo is #2 and lasrt fought 4 years ago.

(07-13-2018, 12:41 PM)Beefstew Wrote: [ -> ]I see JP isnt ranked by the WBA. Im thinking maybe they dont rank World champs coming off a loss untill they have another fight? Crazy that Fres Oquendo is #2 and lasrt fought 4 years ago.

I just had a look and that is the worst top 15 ever. 

Fres Oquendo succesfuly sued the WBA so i think thats why hes ranked that high because they dont want anymore trouble from him. Hes also legally entitled to a WBA regular title shot although hes been sitting on that for ages

Joseph Parker 'hungry' to win back world title but Dillian Whyte stands in his way

Joseph Parker is "hungry" to win back a world title after losing his WBO belt to Anthony Joshua in the first defeat of his professional boxing career.

Parker lost on points to Joshua in Cardiff on April 1 and returns to the ring against another British fighter, Dillian Whyte, at London's 02 Arena on July 29 (NZ time).

The winner would move back into contention for another world title shot and it's a potentially risky fight for the Kiwi facing the aggressive style of Whyte, who also suffered the only loss of his career to Joshua.

Anthony Joshua punching Parker on his way to victory in Cardiff in April.

But the 26-year-old New Zealand heavyweight said "there's no point in mucking around with fights that are easy".

"I lost the world title, we are still hungry," he told the UK's Sky Sports. "Our team really want to be champion again."

Parker returns to the ring against Dillian Whyte in London.

"There is no point going into camp and training for so long and then blasting someone out in one round."

Parker is in camp in London ahead of facing Whyte on his home turf and that challenge is something the Kiwi says will bring the best out of him.

"The main person to look at this and overlook and see if it's the right fight is [trainer] Kevin [Barry] and our matchmaker and I'm happy with it as well, so when the whole team is happy, it's time for us to get it on," he added.

"Every heavyweight possesses power but off Dillian's record, you can see he's got a lot of knockouts so you know he possesses the power to knock you out if he catches you.

"The challenge of fighting someone who is highly ranked and the power that he brings, and the style he brings, that's going to bring the best out of us."

Their records are almost identical; Parker is 24-1 and Whyte is 23-1. Parker has won 18 by knockout; Whyte 17.

- Stuff

Where did this body go?



Because this one looks like he hasn't done the work...

Exactly. That's my point. Don't know when the first picture happened, but several fights before AJ, KB opted to go for speed. Big mistake. Why can't he have both?

(07-31-2018, 08:54 PM)diehard Wrote: [ -> ]Exactly.  That's my point.  Don't know when the first picture happened, but several fights before AJ, KB opted to go for speed.  Big mistake.  Why can't he have both?

you can have both. the key to power is to train it separately. at this point in time I've only seen AJ do this. I think the ket thing is to continually train the right areas and start camp on weight, fit, , strong and powerful. its a complex subject but i feel to many fighters use camp to get in shape rather than ready being in shape.  speed is retail to fibre type not size. if you train wrong in the weight room your finer can go slow . but you can train smartly and get strong and keep finer type fast. very easy to do to be honest if you have the right team and expertise. I personally cant comment on what they are doing as i don't know the program but i know it can be done.