Parker’s winning recipe
Patience, precision and power are the three ingredients Joseph Parker is looking to combine to ignite his stalled heavyweight career.
Two consecutive losses have Parker needing a signature win against American-Mexican Alexander Flores in Christchurch next week or he risks slipping further off the title pace.
Trainer Kevin Barry is demanding an ‘‘explosive performance’’ from the former WBO champion and Parker is feeling the heat to produce his first knockout win in more than two years though he is trying to ease the burden of expectation.
‘‘I don’t want to be hyping it up. I know I have got the power to knock him out, I know I have got the power to really hurt him. But I will leave that in the ring,’’ Parker said as he continued tapering his training in Auckland before transferring south tomorrow.
‘‘Sometimes when you say it and sometimes when you go looking for it, it doesn’t happen
. . . kind of relax and let it flow naturally. When it flows naturally that punch will land and when it lands it will be dangerous . . . he’ll be crying.
‘‘It’s about making sure every punch has meaning to it, not just letting it go for any reason.’’
There’s an inner confidence in Parker on the back of a Las Vegas training camp where he has increased his strength and conditioning work by about 30 per cent on the camps he used for his losses to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte.
He feels his power has increased and he has also used his new strength to build a more aggressive approach, mindful that he was bullied by Whyte.
Flores arrived in Auckland on Thursday and had an open training session yesterday.
He has been very vocal about his belief that he will become the first fighter to knock out Parker.
That has been brushed off by Barry who noted that Parker had gone the distance with world class fighters. But Barry understands where Flores is coming from with the mind games he is playing with Parker, who he clearly sees as vulnerable. ‘‘He knows the pressure is on Joe, there’s no pressure on him and that’s what makes Alexander Flores a very dangerous guy for us,’’ Barry said. ‘‘He’s looking at Joe coming off losses in his last two fights and he likes the position that we are in.’’