Parker desperate for tough referee

Kevin Barry has pleaded for a strong referee to handle Joseph Parker’s London fight with renegade Dereck Chisora.

The pair square off on October 27 (NZT) and Barry doesn’t want a repeat of the refereeing problems that have dogged their previous UK fights against Hughie Fury, Anthony Joshua and, particularly, Dillian Whyte.

Barry fears the rugged Chisora could take things further than Whyte who resorted to headbutting and wrestling to beat Parker on points in a hotly disputed contest that saw both fighters on the canvas.

‘‘Chisora is probably rougher than Whyte,’’ Barry told Stuff from Las Vegas where he has Parker in the thick of the sparring phase of his training camp.

‘‘In saying that I think the Dillian Whyte in the ring that night was on a bit of a rage.

‘‘But Dereck Chisora is no different. They are going to push the boundaries of the rules and regulations of the sport.

‘‘This is something that we have had to contend with over the last two years. We haven’t had a fair crack with the officials and that’s not being a bad loser, it’s stating a fact.

‘‘The referees that we have had have been bloody substandard.

‘‘We need a ref who is going to take no bulls***, a ref who has the strength and experience to control this fight and not let it get out of hand.

‘‘There are a couple of excellent refs in the UK and there are also a couple who are simply not up to standard. We hope that we get a fair crack.’’

Barry felt the British Boxing Board of Control was ‘‘under the microscope at the moment with the drug problems and everything else’’ and hoped that would see careful consideration given to their choice of a referee.

‘‘When you bring international, world class fighters in from other countries you have got to have a level playing field,’’ Barry said.

The referee has yet to be appointed but the British have a tendency to use their own rather than neutral officials.

This is a fight with huge ramifications to both fighters. Parker can get back into the world title talk if he can beat Chisora. The 35-year-old Brit knows this is probably his last chance to push for another title chance.

Chisora has maintained his mind games on Parker, questioning the Kiwi’s skills and motivation. He appeared on Sky Sport UK’S Soccer AM and when he was asked to rate Parker, he quickly said: ‘‘One-out-of-10.

‘‘The guy is good. He has a good right hand, but I believe that, since he moved to Vegas, he doesn’t have hunger.’’