Joseph Parker’s manager David Higgins has suggested that should his man beat Daniel Dubois in Saudi Arabia in February and become a two-time heavyweight world champion, it will be the greatest sporting achievement by a New Zealander.
“He was the first New Zealander to win the heavyweight world championship and so this is more uncharted territory,” Higgins told 1News.
“If he’s successful you could easily argue that becoming a two-time heavyweight world champion is the country’s greatest ever sporting achievement given boxing is a global sport.”
Supporters of the late Peter Snell, who won gold in both the 800m and 1500m on the track at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, only the second man to achieve the feat (which has not been done since), may beg to differ, as may those of middle-distance runners Jack Lovelock and John Walker, and Sir Edmund Hillary, the first conqueror of Mt Everest. The Olympic feats of kayaker Lisa Carrington and shotputter Valerie Adams would also be in the conversation.
But Higgins, in the promotion game and therefore not averse to hyperbole, raises an interesting point and what strengthens it is time.
Should Parker be successful in Riyadh on February 23 NZT – and the Aucklander is extremely confident that he will be – it would be just over nine years since he won his first world title in December, 2016, at the age of 24.
In between times Parker has had to show enormous resilience in this most punishing and cut-throat of sports, and, while he enjoyed home-town advantage when narrowly beating Andy Ruiz Jr all those years ago, a victory over Dubois – a truly elite fighter (although not without flaws), would be quite the achievement.
“It’s not luck,” Higgins said. “He’s got this opportunity through hard work and dedication from a young age. He won the world title when very young but since then he’s had to be resilient, deal with setbacks, make changes and be resourceful. He never gave up.”
Parker lost his WBO world title to Anthony Joshua in front of 80,000 raucous fans in a cold indoor rugby stadium in Cardiff in 2018 and lost again in his next fight – a controversial defeat to Dillian Whyte, which featured a Parker knockdown from a head clash, in London a few months later.
After winning a points decision over Kiwi rival Junior Fa in Auckland in 2021, Parker split with long-time trainer Kevin Barry, linking up with coach Andy Lee, an Irishman, and then American strength and conditioning coach George Lockhart to turn his career around.
One of his most impressive performances was almost exactly 12 months ago when he dominated former WBC world champion Deontay Wilder from the first bell to the last in Riyadh and he backed it up in March when getting off the canvas twice to beat the dangerous Zhilei Zhang at the same venue.
That was the last time Parker fought, and if Dubois – a 27-year-old who has similar physical dimensions to the 32-year-old Parker – could claim an advantage in any area it will be this.
The Englishman last fought in September when demolishing Anthony Joshua inside five rounds at Wembley to claim the IBF world title. When Parker, at his best when busy and active, takes to the ring in February it would have been 11 months since his last fight.
“It’s just given me more time to prepare,” Parker told TalkSport in the United Kingdom recently. “I know you can get annoyed [at the delay], but this is the boxing business and you have to adapt and adjust according to what’s in front of you.
“I’ve been building. The shape that I’m going to be in is going to be next level.”
Of Dubois, Parker said: “He looked good in getting that devastating knockout against Joshua but there’s a difference with me. I’m fresh and I’m hungry and I’m ready to go.”
For his part, Dubois said of Parker on the same channel: “I’ve got to go right through him and be better in every department – speed… energy, power, everything.
“He’s an experienced veteran of the game so I’ve got to break him down and finish him off.”
That experience could be crucial for Parker, a man who has been in 38 professional bouts around the world.
Higgins said: “Dubois is a formidable opponent, but Joe has fought at a higher level for longer than him, so Joe is more experienced and will have an edge on the mental side of it.
“We’re backing him to go all the way.”
He said Parker would fly to Ireland at the end of next week for a training camp but would take a break to attend the Tyson Fury v Oleksandr Usyk rematch in Riyadh on December 22 NZT.
Another big plus for Parker is his team. While he was enormously impressive in beating Wilder and Zhang, both feared power punchers, just as important were the fight strategies put in place by Lee and company.
And there may be more to come against Dubois, Parker saying: “I’ve been working on a few things that I think will make a big difference.”
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