Parker vows to bring mongrel back
ALREADY determined to bounce back with a ‘‘redemption’’type performance against Dillian Whyte following the disappointment of his defeat to Anthony Joshua in Cardiff in April, Joseph Parker’s determination has been stoked further by the Englishman’s ‘‘coward’’ taunts.
Whyte (30) has claimed that Parker (26) was apparently satisfied with a points loss to Johsua while there is the sense there is a harder edge to the New Zealander which has developed over his more than 100 rounds of sparring in a bit over four weeks at his Las Vegas camp.
His sparring partners, including friend Malik Scott, have worn plenty of leather as they have mimicked Whyte’s comeforward, freewheeling style and it is an aggression that Parker will have to display at the O2 Arena if he is to rebound and keep himself relevant in the heavyweight division.
And, such is Whyte’s drawing power — the 22,000 arena is a sellout — that a knockout victory or even a clear and entertaining points victory would allow Parker to hook bigger sport down the line.
‘‘They’ve been taking a lot of punches in camp,’’ Parker said of his training partners.
‘‘You can sense it after sparring. They’ve been holding their bodies.’’
He added: ‘‘I’ve shown a lot more mongrel — punching people in the balls, anywhere. I was doing everything I could to hurt the other person. At the end of the camp, in sparring sessions, I wanted to break their ribs. It’s not a nice thing to say but I wanted to bash people so hard I wanted to see them on the ground screaming’’.
Parker’s trainer and Las Vegas housemate, Kevin Barry, has seen the difference. ‘‘A lot of people have said ‘Joe is a really chilled guy and not much fazes him’. Well, he is a chilled guy, he’s very relaxed . . . [but] I know that Joe is also a very proud man and I know there’s a little fire lit in his stomach,’’ Barry said. ‘‘He has a point to prove here.’’
The insults will probably continue from Whyte this week and, while Parker will effect an air of indifference, they could get under his skin. Will it matter on fight night? Who is to say? Parker did well against Joshua in the verbal department but it did not seem to make much difference in front of 80,000 people at the Principality Stadium.
‘‘He talks a whole lot of rub bish,’’ Parker said of Whyte, who was knocked out by Joshua in late 2015. ‘‘He’s definitely a gold medallist in talking crap. I wouldn’t even get silver. I’d be way down in bronze.
‘‘For me it’s not natural but for him it is.
‘‘He’s been stabbed and shot and lived in the hood and all that.
‘‘I think when we go to the highest level there’s a difference in our results. I can examine the fight and improve on the beginning and end of the fight with Joshua but he can only improve the beginning because he didn’t see the last rounds.’’ — NZME