Joseph Parker Talks Winters Bout and Facing Usyk
Former heavyweight champion Joseph “Lupesoliai La’auliolemalietoa” Parker (27-2, 21 KO’s) looked rather impressive in his first outing since suffering a rather haphazard spider bite. Parker was all lined up to face Dereck “War” Chisora (32-9, 23 KO’s) when the unlikely fight-derailing arachnid attack took place. Having finally recovered from the physical setbacks brought on by the spider’s venom, Parker scheduled a new prizefight with Shawndell Winters (13-3, 12 KO’s).
MIGHT MAKES RIGHT
Due to feeling he was the bigger, stronger man, and wanting to please the crowd, Parker opted to take the fight straight to Winters. The crowd-pleasing strategy worked like a charm and resulted in a devastating fifth round knockout. In an exclusive interview with SecondsOut, Parker gave more insight on this choice of fighting style for the night.
“Well, he was a smaller guy, and I think I mentioned it before the fight. It’s great to go out there and box and move and get the points that you want, but it’s not really attractive and it doesn’t really excite people. So I wanted to go out there and be more aggressive as the bigger man and take it too him.
…he was game, he came out and he was confident and he wanted to beat me in order to step up, but I was fortunate to get the win, very happy with the knockout. I think I rate myself 50 or 60%, I know I can box a lot better.”
While he is happy with the win, Parker understands that this was just the first step on the long journey to trying to recapture a heavyweight title. Yet and still, he is very happy with the outcome of the fight.
“It was a good opponent to make a statement, you know, get a good knockout, but I know when I step it up, there are a lot of top heavyweights and will be harder fights but they’re just good to show that I’m back and that I want to be involved in the big fights.”
ALL DRESSED UP WITH NO DATE
The only somewhat downer on the night is despite looking so good in the fight, there are no real viable opponents to face. At the moment, virtually all the big marquee names are tied up with contractual obligations, which will force Parker to have to wait on the sidelines for a bit.
Yet, if given his choice of next opponent, the native New Zealander stated that he would most want to tangle with the winner of former undisputed cruiserweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk (17-0, 13 KO’s) versus Dereck Chisora.
“Usyk, Usyk would be a good fight…[on how he would win] take it too him! And just be more patient.”
By: Bakari Simpson
