THAT’S WHAT WE CALL DEDICATION
JOHN Wayne Parr has revealed his love of WWE and Jean-Claude van Damme had him willing to risk Leukaemia in order to bow out of fighting as a winner.
The 44-year-old Gold Coast champion defeated Anthony Mundine, 43, in their “Superfight” in Brisbane in November to end his 20-year career in kickboxing and boxing. Yet his final moment of glory could have come at a crazy cost, with Parr admitting his hip injury – which had two bones rubbing on each other – was so bad he feared an even tougher challenge awaited.
“I went to Dr Google and it said bones splint can actually lead to Leukaemia,” he told ABC radio this week.
“If I got Leukaemia from beating Mundine then so be it.
“And because of the bones I thought I should keep my phone on me in case when I’m running my bone snaps.
“I’m not kidding either, these thoughts were going through my head.”
Parr outlined why he was able to crush a former Aussie champion like Mundine.
“Coming from a Muay Thai background I’m so used to getting kicked in the head and elbowed in the face, so to face a man with gloves on didn’t seem so daunting,” he said.
So which athletes does JWP consider crazy?
“A large variety,” he said. “If I had to put on a pair of snow boots and do a flip (I’d consider that crazy).”
Parr, who spent a lot of his earlier years training in Thailand, said watching Van Damme in 1988 cult classic
Bloodsport – plus a little Hulk Hogan magic from wrestling – inspired his career.
“After watching that all I wanted to do was be Van Damme,” he said.
IF I GOT LEUKAEMIA FROM BEATING MUNDINE THEN SO BE IT JOHN WAYNE PARR