KIWI SUPERSTAR’S SHOT AT GREATNESS
omit and on to pion, New good rica, with you determined to turn his boys into boxers, though, and took his eightyear-old son and younger brother John on the pads outside their house.
When Parker was 10, he made it down to Papatoetoe Boxing Gym and had his first bout under the guidance of Grant Arkell at 12.
Arkell wasn’t blown away by the mild-mannered “chubby little kid” but he slowly made progress through his teens as his friends turned to rugby.
In 2009 he realised boxing could be a career for him after he knocked out three-time New Zealand amateur champion Yamiko Chinula.
Arkell used his own money to get his man to the 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2011 World Amateur Championships, but missed out on qualification for the London Olympics in 2012 where Joshua won gold.
His amateur trainer wanted him to aim for Rio but he opted to go pro. It took until 2016, when he beat Carlos Takam, for word to reach the northern hemisphere that Parker could one day be a fight for Joshua. “This fight has been in the making for about three years,” said coach Kevin Barry.
“In 2014 to 2016 there were two outstanding heavyweight prospects – Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker.
“They can say it wasn’t so but earlier in Joshua’s career when we wanted the fight, they didn’t. They wanted nothing to do with Joseph Parker.”
His big breakthrough was getting a shot at the WBO title vacated by friend Tyson Fury in 2016 and he outpointed Andy Ruiz Jnr to claim the belt.
After that Parker became a wanted man in the heavyweight division.
He was so dedicated to reaching the top he missed the birth of his first daughter, Elizabeth, as he was in a training camp for the Ruiz fight in Vegas, while partner Laine Tavita was back home in New Zealand.
Now unbeaten Parker, set for his 25th professional fight, has the chance to not only reach the summit of world heavyweight boxing but also to etch his name into Kiwi sports folklore.