Parker in for a ‘dirty’ fight
Dereck Chisora’s new coach believes the best way for his fighter to beat Joseph Parker is to ‘‘mug him’’, hinting at some roughhouse tactics for their fight in Britain.
Heavyweights Parker and Chisora clash in Manchester on Sunday morning.
American Buddy McGirt is the new trainer in Chisora’s corner and believes the rugged Brit has the weapons for this assignment.
McGirt has been complimentary about Parker’s skills and knows Chisora has to play to his own strengths to get an upset result against the former WBO champion.
‘‘I’ve never seen Joseph Parker fight, I’ve seen clips,’’ McGirt told Ring magazine.
‘‘He’s a very good boxer, he’s very smart and I know he’s going to try to outbox my guy.
‘‘I’m not mad at him for it. I’m not expecting him to stand there and try to bang – it would be nice – but our goal is to get him into a fight, we’ve got to try to mug him and make it a down and dirty fight.
‘‘We’re not going to outbox him, that’s obvious, so we’ve got to get him in the trenches.’’
The blueprint for Chisora was provided by good mate Dillian Whyte who brought street fighting tactics to the ring to get a points win over Parker in a London brawl in 2018, a result that still irks the Kiwi-Samoan.
Chisora is up for the job and, again, did his best to belittle Parker when he fronted an international media call.
‘‘He’s a big fish in a small pond in New Zealand, but when he has come up in the big fights he has done well, but not great,’’ Chisora said.
‘‘We know he has got fast hands, it looks like he has lost weight . . . we know his game plan is to box and run.
‘‘I’m just going to bring the heat on him. Get ready, the storm is coming, the thunder is coming, we’re going to make it rain. I will
‘‘I will put the fear of God in him.’’ Dereck Chisora on Joseph Parker
put the fear of God in him.’’
Chisora remains unconvinced about Parker’s reasons for pulling out of their October 2019 fight.
It fell through at three-anda-half weeks’ notice when Parker’s team revealed he was suffering from the aftereffects of a spider bite.
‘‘I think he pulled out because he had problems for himself in America, and in New Zealand and Australia, so that’s why he pulled out,’’ Chisora said.
‘‘I don’t blame him. Things happen, people pull out of fights. But you have to have a good excuse. Him saying he had a spider bite was shambles of an excuse to be honest with you.
‘‘But it happens, what can I say? I’m going to punch him up. I’m expecting Joseph to run away. That is 100 per cent. I know for a fact he’s going to run away.’’