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Nick Parkinson
Joseph Parker says he will bring more aggression and action to his key clash with Dillian Whyte Saturday.
The New Zealand boxer, who trains in Las Vegas, intends to be on the front foot more than he was in March’s points defeat to Anthony Joshua, which cost him his WBO world heavyweight title.
Parker (24-1, 18 KOs), 26, from South Auckland, can put himself back in contention for a possible rematch with WBA-IBF-WBO world heavyweight champion Joshua next year if he defeats Whyte at the O2 Arena, London.
“Me and the team are doing more to make sure I give an explosive performance, I am a lot hungrier now, we all want to get back to the top and be world champion again,” Parker said.
“I left the ring with Joshua and I still had gas in the tank. In future fights, when I leave the ring I won’t be doing the same thing.
“The tough thing about Whyte is that he is going to put on a lot of pressure because he throws a lot of punches and he can take a punch.
“This is a very tough fight for us but it’s a fight we love. We love challenges and we love to fight the best out there.”
Parker, who made two defences of the WBO belt, was impressed by Whyte’s last performance when the Jamaica-born boxer knocked out Australian Lucas Browne in the sixth round in March.
“He did a tremendous job against Browne,” Parker said.
“His movement was good and his punches were good. Every heavyweight has knockout power. He possesses the power to do a lot of damage but our goal is not to get hit with those punches.”
Whyte (23-1, 17 KOs), 30, from south-west London, is highly ranked by the world governing bodies: No. 1 with the WBC, No. 2 with the WBO and until recently No. 1 with the IBF.
And Parker — outside the top five with all four major governing bodies — hopes beating Whyte will improve his chances of fighting Joshua in front of a 100,000 crowd at Wembley Stadium on April 13.
Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) defends his belts against Russian Alexander Povetkin at the same London venue on September 22 and, providing he wins, the priority will be to make a fight against rival titleholder Deontay Wilder.
But talks with the WBC champion from America are proving difficult and Parker hopes to provide a back-up plan for Joshua on April 13.
“If all goes well in this next fight there is a very real possibility of fighting Joshua again and that will be a different fight altogether,” Parker said.
“That’s for the future and the future is pretty exciting once we get passed this guy. We have a lot of options.
“The opportunity to fight at Wembley would be amazing. We loved the whole lead-up to the fight in Cardiff, it was great to see all the boxing fans come out and support us so Wembley would be another big experience. But I’m looking forward to fighting at the O2 first.”