Parker: Will Chisora smoke me rolled up?
Joseph Parker believes the unpredictable Dereck Chisora has shown his ‘‘crazy’’ side but needs to accept not being the main event for their heavyweight showdown in October.
Parker and Chisora will be the main undercard to the London clash between Josh Taylor and Regis Prograis, a world super-lightweight unification bout.
Chisora is unhappy about that status and said so in an expletive-filled tirade at a London press conference earlier this week, storming out in disgust.
‘‘Dereck is Dereck, he can be calm or crazy. I thought as of late he was a lot calmer as a person and fighter but then again, the switch is there,’’ Parker told the BBC in Las Vegas as the British boxing media descended on America’s fight capital for this weekend’s bout between Tyson Fury and Otto Wallin.
Parker acknowledged that he and Chisora would help draw a crowd to London’s O2 Arena and boost pay-per-view numbers, but ultimately, in the eyes of promoter Eddie Hearn they had been ‘‘trumped’’ by the smaller fighters this time.
‘‘Those two guys are undefeated and fighting to unify belts and it’s not our job to tell the promoter what to do. We have a say but ultimately accept where you are.’’
Parker reiterated that in an interview with IFL TV where he described Chisora as ‘‘a character’’. Parker said he had no problems with not being the main event in London.
‘‘I don’t care, as long as I have a fight, something to prepare for,’’ former WBO champion Parker said, believing a win against Chisora can get him right back in the title talk. When he was reminded that Chisora had said he would ‘‘smoke Joseph Parker’’ in this fight, the Kiwi smiled and said: ‘‘How? Rolled up?’’
The younger and more mobile Parker backed his style against the rugged Chisora approach. ‘‘I believe my skill levels are above his. Boxing-wise I can box him, I can fight him, I can move, I can stand.
‘‘Chisora has one style, to come forward and swing, he has heavy hands . . . but I believe I have a better skill-set.’’