Joseph Parker says there are those in the professional boxing industry, including undisputed world champion Oleksandr Usyk, who are probably pleased that he is out of the world title picture after his upset loss to Fabio Wardley.
In an extended interview this morning with Canadian combat sports journalist Ariel Helwani following his stoppage defeat to big underdog Wardley, Parker said he was "fighting the fight and fighting everything else".
Included among those industry figures would probably be his own promoter Frank Warren, a man with whom he still has the option of another fight on his current deal and who also promotes Wardley.
Not surprisingly, Warren was quick to talk up Wardley's chances of a fight against undefeated Ukranian Usyk afterwards.
"Seeing me out of the world title picture would make a lot of people happy," Parker said.
Asked to elaborate, Parker, who again refused to blame referee Howard Foster for the loss after the official stopped the fight in the 11th round, added: "I’m not from here. I’m not expected to do well. I’m not from America or this side of the world [England], not from the big places.
"I’m from New Zealand and Samoa, small places with not the biggest markets and not the biggest followings. You can understand why people want their own fighters to win. I accept that, but it makes me more motivated to show that I’m not done yet. Not at all."
Asked whether Usyk might prefer to fight the still undefeated Wardley, who has had 21 professional fights, rather than him, Parker said: "I think so. Not that he would be scared or shying away from the challenge. But I’m from a small place – New Zealand.
"The fighters on this [northern] side of the world get more of a following and attention. That could be a reason why – bigger money from fighting someone else."
There is little doubt that Parker is right. He has been left in professional limbo by the defeat to Wardley, a 30-year-old former recruitment consultant from Ipswich.
His dream of a shot at Usyk’s title as undisputed world heavyweight champion is gone for now and will be extremely difficult to resurrect, given his age.
At 33 and with 40 professional fights behind him, Parker is far closer to the end of his career than the start. It was one of the reasons the Wardley fight was risky. But, having not fought since March (a second-round knockout victory over Martin Bakole), time in the ring was paramount.
Besides which, it was a worthwhile financial exercise, the United Kingdom’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reportedParker was paid $NZ5.5million for the bout at London’s O2 Arena.
Parker, wearing dark glasses to hide the bruising around his eyes from what was a thrilling and see-sawing fight, told Helwani: "What I was showing in training and what I was showing in sparring didn’t quite happen on fight night.
"I’m not quite sure what happened during fight week but again, no excuses. I live to fight another day and I guess we still have a lot to work on."
The Kiwi-Samoan, who appeared to be controlling the fight up to the 10th round before Wardley launched a stunning comeback, was subjected to enormous pressure on the ropes in the 11th and failed to respond to Foster’s liking, the official stopping the fight.
Fight fans are divided over the stoppage.
On the one hand, there is a sentiment that an exhausted Parker hardly threw a shot during a sequence when Wardley threw 30-plus.
Others say Wardley missed most of them (including the final three), and Parker – an elite fighter and the WBO interim world champion – was aware and taking evasive action. They add that his opponent was exhausted himself and potentially vulnerable to a counter-attack had the fight continued.
"The whole focus of the fight was to try to dominate, or, if I couldn’t get him out of there, finish strong, and I was going to finish strong because I think he blew himself out," Parker said.
It did strike as odd, though, that Parker, who also received punishment in the second round after a bright start, did not clinch and spoil like Wardley, a far less experienced fighter, did when he was in trouble.
"I was aware of what was happening and when the ref jumped in I said 'hey, I’m fine'… I just have to accept it, take it on the chin and move on," Parker said.
The official score cards have not been released but the broadcast commentary team stated that at the time of the stoppage Parker was up six rounds on one card, two on another, and was even on the third.
“I have no regrets. I want to challenge anyone and everyone. Listen, if I wasn’t good enough on the day, give me another shot and I’ll show that I am good enough.
"My performance wasn’t the best. It wasn’t up to scratch. It wasn’t what we were seeing and what we expected.
"Down the line, if he doesn’t get the fight with Usyk, I would love to do a rematch because he was a tough competitor."
For now, he will travel home to south Auckland to recuperate but is eager to return to the ring as soon as possible.
Parker mentioned Anthony Joshua, Daniel Dubois, Agit Kabayel and Filip Hrgovic as potential opponents and did not rule out facing rising English star Moses Itauma.
"I’m not into dodging and weaving [fights]. Moses is a young, talented, explosive and fast heavyweight. It would be a pleasure to share a ring with him."
For the avoidance of doubt, Parker, who weighed in at 119kg and tired more quickly than expected, insisted he did not under-estimate Wardley.
"I know a lot of people said this fight would be a walkover but I treated this fight the same as I would have treated a fight with Usyk."
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