Joseph Parker has revealed the one caveat standing between himself and a blockbuster heavyweight showdown with Australia’s Jai Opetaia – while also questioning if the hyped power of this Sunday’s UK rival Fabio Wardley is “a myth”.
Parker vs Wardley | Sunday 26 Oct from 4am AEDT – estimated main event ring walk time 8:30am AEDT | A classic heavyweight showdown takes place at the 02 Arena in London, as NZ’s Joseph Parker takes on Fabio Wardley | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.
The declaration comes as the popular New Zealander also opened up on what it would mean to claim a second world title without fighting the division’s undisputed king Oleksandr Usyk, who could potentially vacate the WBO strap for a Tyson Fury showdown.
Already on one of the best runs anywhere in world boxing, 33-year-old Parker is now looking to punch his way into a hyped showdown against Usyk with victory over Wardley at the O2 Arena, London this Sunday.
Wardley, of course, is no stranger to Australian fans, having pulled victory from the jaws of defeat against Justis Huni back in June – and via that now infamous ‘Right Hand From The Gods’
However with Parker having also claimed consecutive wins over Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Martin Bakole, the hulking New Zealander insists “there is nothing to be nervous or worried about”.
Speaking with Fox Sports Australia this week, the man who initially won the WBO crown in 2017 also branded IBF cruiserweight champ Opetaia “a beast”, and confirmed his interest in the pair one day throwing down in a Trans Tasman blockbuster.
But first, Wardley.
That hyped Englishman who isn’t only undefeated in 20 fights, or fresh off his Huni KO, but arrives into this weekend’s headliner with a staggering 95 per cent finish rate.
Apart from a split draw against Frazer Clarke in 2024, Wardley has earned all but one of his 19 wins via KO.
Yet how does the Ipswich native’s power compare with, say, Fury? And how does it even compare to any of those three punchers Parker has defeated on his most recent heavyweight tear?
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“When it comes to Wardley’s power, you can only go off the numbers,” the Kiwi shrugged.
“And at the moment, his knockout ratio is high.
“But if you examine his career, if you look at who he’s fought, the guys he’s knocked out – he hasn’t knocked out a lot of top 10 fighters.
“So this is the perfect opportunity for him.
“He can showcase whether he does have the power to knock out someone in the top 10, like myself. Or is it just a myth?
“Is it just one of those things.
“Has he been fighting these guys at the right time? These other fighters who aren’t highly ranked?”
So as for being concerned about that Right Hand from the Gods?
“I’m not worried at all,” Parker stressed. “And that’s not me being arrogant, but confident.
“Confident in my sparring, in my padwork, confident in the way my body looks, the way I feel, and coming into a fight week with no injuries, no niggles, no worries.
“So there is nothing to be nervous or scared about.
“I’ve been in the ring with so many heavy hitters.
“And some fights I’ve done well, while in three, I’ve lost.
“But this is nothing new to me.
“And why I do have confidence in my ability.
“I feel like I’m only coming into my prime now.
“Wardley’s fighting me at the wrong time.”
Elsewhere, Parker also heaped praise on Opetaia, who has already revealed plans to make a move up to the lucrative heavyweight division after unifying all four cruiserweight straps.
So far, the push to undisputed has been an agonisingly slow one for the Central Coast product, with Parker wondering aloud what more the big punching southpaw must do.
“Because Jai wants all these fights with the champs,” he said, “but they’re not giving it to him.
“What more can he do? What more can he say?
“How many call outs can he give before getting these big fights?
“I mean, Jai is absolutely relentless in his pursuit of greatness.
“And I feel that if he does unify, by all means come up to heavyweight and try to do the same.
“He’s a man who is serious about his work.
“And you can see when he puts in that work, he’s a beast.
“You watch his fights, you can feel the electricity.
“The guy is on the attack the whole time.
“He’s a great talent, a great representative of Australia and Samoa and I’m backing him all the way.”
So as for the pair of them one day throwing down?
“You can never say never,” Parker grinned. “But before we talk about fighting, we have to have a competition in fishing.
“(Laughs) Jai thinks he’s a better fisherman than me.
“And I believe I’m better than him.
“So that’ll be the first contest.
“And then we’ll see what happens from there.”
Elsewhere, Parker also heaped praise on Huni’s most recent performance against Wardley, with the Queenslander ahead easily on all three scorecards when caught by a massive right hand in Round 10.
Initially afterwards, Huni’s manager Mick Francis also expressed dismay and how quickly his client had been counted out by the officiating referee, with Parker also convinced the Aussie could have fought on.
“Against Fabio Wardley, Justis Huni put up a terrific performance,” he said.
“Before that right hand in the tenth, it was all Huni’s way.
“Justis was putting on a perfect performance.
“Looked sensational.
“You’re watching thinking ‘man, he is going to win this … [he’s] putting on a clinic’.
“Then one punch changes everything.
“And even then, Justis got up.
“Did he beat the count?
“I’m sure, If they’d let him go on he would’ve. Found something in him to carry on.
“But it got waved off.
“And even then he showed true sportsmanship in accepting the loss, saying the better man won.
“But Justis Huni will be back.
“He’s got a really big future.”
While the winner of Sunday’s fight will become mandatory for Usyk, there remains talks of the champ vacating at least the WBO belt to instead chase a lucrative trilogy bout with Fury.
So as for Parker being OK to win his second world title in such fashion?
“Getting elevated to world champion — that isn’t how you want to do it,” he conceded.
“You always want to earn something.
“But it still makes you champion of the world.
“Gives you more bargaining power.
“And say Usyk does vacate a belt. If I then have a defence, and win, then I can have the unification.
“So it still opens up all sorts of possibilities. All these things to look forward to.
“But none of it matters unless I take care of business this weekend and smash him.”
Later, Parker continued: “A lot of people are saying the winner of this weekend’s fight is then in line to fight Usyk, which is all well and good.
“But none of them have control over Usyk.
“And I’ve heard all this before.
“I was next in line, waiting for my time.
“So that’s why I’m not really fussed about ‘oh, Usyk is next’.
“Of course, it would be good to fight him. A generational great. A guy who has achieved so much unifying the cruiserweight division, then unifying the heavyweight division.
“So the championship of the world, that’s still the end goal.
“But for now I just want to smash everyone in front of me.
“Line them up, I’ll do my best to smash them and onto the next.”