It’s make or break time

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

Dillian Whyte (right) is an aggressive fighter.

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

Joseph Parker

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.”