Joseph Parker has been using David Haye’s gym in his preparations for Saturday’s showdown with Dillian Whyte.
‘Hayemaker’ will be part of the Sky Sports Box Office team at The O2, and having caught up with the New Zealander this week, feels he is better prepared for a must-win heavyweight fight as lingering doubts remain about Whyte…
Joseph Parker is a beast. He’s not considered a giant heavyweight, but every ounce of him is good stuff.
I had breakfast with him on Thursday and he is ripped and ready for war, so this is going to be a good one.
Dillian Whyte is coming off the back of an important victory over Lucas Browne and Parker is coming off the back of a very good training camp and a very, very good fight with Anthony Joshua, which he lost on points, but there was no real damage to him there.
You wouldn’t say that fight took something out of Joseph Parker, that he will never be the same fighter again. Whereas you go back to Dillian Whyte’s fight against Anthony Joshua. When he was laying on the floor, I remember thinking will he ever be the same?
If you look at his record since then, he does seem to be the same, but sometimes you don’t know what’s left in the tank until you are in with someone who is as good as you, is as strong as you, and is coming to win.
Browne, when he fought Whyte, didn’t really pose any threat. He didn’t look like he came into the ring in any type of shape. He was as heavy as I’ve ever seen him, really slow on his feet.
Whyte was able to pot shot. Same sort of thing with the fight against Robert Helenius, who had a good second round, hit him one decent shot in the fight, and then accepted that he was going to lose on points.
Parker has been in fights against people who are very, very tough. AJ, Carlos Takam, guys who put the pressure on him, and also his awkward fight against Hughie Fury.
That was a Rubik’s cube of a boxing match. He just squeezed a decision there, but he’s been challenged in a lot of different ways. It’s going to be a really interesting fight.
