Wach one of four options for Parker
Joseph Parker is yet to have an opponent confirmed for his February fight in Texas despite former world title challenger Mariusz Wach (35-6) claiming he will share the ring with the Kiwi heavyweight.
Wach has appeared on Polish TV to claim he will fight Parker on the undercard of Mikey Garcia’s welterweight clash with Jessie Vargas at the Ford Centre in Texas on February 29.
It has been widely known for some time that Parker (26-2) would make his first appearance of 2020 on the Matchroom Boxing card and the Polish veteran claims he has agreed to terms to fight the Kiwi boxer next month despite the contract not yet being finalised.
‘‘I said yes and we are waiting for documents to be signed. I will sign and send it back,’’ Wach told TVP sport. ‘‘I want to hurt him.’’
But Parker’s manager David Higgins has told Stuff Wach is getting ahead of himself with the situation still fluid, however, he confirmed Wach is an option.
‘‘There’s four names in the mix and he’s one to of them,’’ Higgins told Stuff.
‘‘Wach is by no means confirmed at this point in time. It would be wrong to assume it’s Wach but it would also be wrong to assume it isn’t.’’
He was keeping the other three options close to his chest but said confirmation of the opponent is imminent and it could come as early as this weekend.
Higgins said there was still water to go under the bridge given the process involved many parties such as Parker, his trainer Kevin Barry, Matchroom Boxing – who promote Parker – and the Matchroom matchmakers plus the opponent’s representatives.
‘‘If someone is pricing themselves out then you go for someone else, there’s all sorts of issues that come in to play,’’ Higgins said.
Wach lost a one-sided unanimous decision to former heavyweight ruler Wladimir Klitschko way in 2012.
His last fight was another unanimous decision loss to Dillian Whyte – who beat Parker on the cards midway through 2018 – on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s redemption victory over Andy Ruiz Jr in Saudi Arabia in December.
At 40 and with 41 professional bouts under his belt, Wach is past his prime but he was game against an out of shape Whyte and if the fight does go ahead he should at least give Parker, the former WBO heavyweight champion, some decent rounds as the Kiwi boxer looks for a more meaningful fight later in the year.
Parker only fought once in 2019 and that resulted in a 10th round stoppage of Alex Leapai in the United States.