Parker’s done it hard way
BOXING KIWI’S BUILT UP TO HIS BIG NIGHT
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IF life had turned out differently for Joseph Parker, he would be on a building site in South Auckland this weekend.
Instead the New Zealander has spent the past six years laying the foundations for his career-defining moment against Anthony Joshua in the ring tomorrow night at Cardiff ’s Principality Stadium.
Parker, 26, will put his WBO title and unbeaten record on the line against WBA and IBF heavyweight champion Joshua, having secured a pay day of around £7m.
Scratch
While the pair did cross paths when they briefly met at the 2011 world amateur championships in Azerbaijan, their route to the summit of heavyweight boxing has been very different.
Joshua was a GB funded athlete with the comfort of a regular income, state-of-the-art facilities and accommodation, but Parker had to scratch around for money just to go to tournaments.
He couldn’t even afford to take his amateur coach Grant Arkell to Azerbaijan and Australia’s trainers took him under their wing before he went out in the second round.
“I have had a tougher route to here,” said Parker. “In New Zealand, when you represent your country, you don’t really get a lot of support.
“We’ve done the hard yards to get here and that will help us with extra drive and motivation.”
While Joshua was winning gold at the London Olympics in 2012 and closing in on a lucrative professional contract, Parker was studying construction, fearing boxing would not pay the bills.
“I was on a scholarship to learn building,” said Parker, who is of Samoan descent.
“I loved construction and my mum said to me many times that I need to have a fall-back plan in case everything goes wrong.”
But when his promoters Duco Events picked him up after his first professional fight, they promised riches that have been delivered.
Parker still didn’t have the security Joshua enjoyed in the professional ranks but he will be sitting on a gold mine if he can upset the odds in front of 78,000 fans tomorrow.
Joshua will have Brit backing from old pal Tyson Fury, while Parker’s dad Dempsey – named after fight legend Jack Dempsey – and mum Sala are in Cardiff.
But the unbeaten Kiwi puncher’s partner, Laine Tavita, has had to stay back in New Zealand as she is expecting their second child in June.