AFTER a troublesome yet triumphant night against Justis Huni, many believe that the blueprint to defeat Fabio Wardley has been laid out. Yet, Joseph Parker has revealed that he has not taken heed of Huni’s approach ahead of fight night.
Wardley, 19-0-1 (18 KOs), faced Huni at Portman Road back in June, but was outboxed by the Australian for the majority, as the away fighter kept out of range and fought intelligently off the back foot.
However, despite a disciplined and dominant display prior, Huni then decided to trade with the hard-hitting Briton in round 10 and was shockingly caught and knocked out.
As a reward for his comeback win, Wardley has now landed an out-of-the-blue clash with Joseph Parker, who puts his WBO interim title and subsequent mandatory challenger position on the line when they collide next weekend.
Speaking with Boxing News, Parker explained why he has opted to risk his shot at Oleksandr Usyk’s undisputed title, rather than wait for Usyk to either face him or vacate the WBO belt.
“I just want to fight. I’m done waiting for too long outside of the ring and not getting any fights. I had a fight with [Zhilei] Zhang in March last year and then I had a fight with [Martin] Bakole in February, that is nearly a year out of the ring.
“Being out of the ring for that long doesn’t do any fighter any good. So, as soon as I was able to get a fight locked in, I locked it in as soon as I could.”
Parker then went on to reveal why Huni’s success against Wardley prior to the stoppage can be excused, rather than fixated upon, in his plans to hand the 30-year-old a first career defeat.
“I am not just going to look at Fabio’s last fight. Andy said to me ‘listen, sometimes fighters do just have a bad day in the office’ and it could well be that he had a bad day in the office, or it could be that the experience of Justis Huni made him look like that.
“We are looking at the last four/five fights and seeing what he has done. We are not just looking at the last fight and saying, ‘you know what, that is the blueprint’, and a lot of people will.
“A lot of people will look at that and say, ‘that is all I have to do to beat him’, but that fight will probably make him better than what he was, he can learn a lot from that fight, even though he got the win.”
Instead, the former WBO heavyweight champion explained his perceived keys to defeating Wardley, highlighting the importance of ‘patience, dominance and correctly picking his moments’.
“[The key is] just being patient and being dominant. Being patient and picking your moments. Picking your moments, showing that experience and showing that there are different levels in this game of boxing.”
Parker-Wardley takes place at O2 Arena in London on Saturday, October 25, and can be watched live on DAZN PPV.
