Joseph Parker was short with his responses but never more certain of how his fight will play out this weekend.
A bold knockout prediction was made ahead of his scheduled 12-round bout versus Deontay Wilder in a battle of former heavyweight titlists. The matchup has emerged as the most anticipated among the eight fights that grace Saturday’s ‘Day of Reckoning’ Pay-Per-View event from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
A win by Wilder (43-2-1, 42KOs) will reportedly set up a massive showdown versus England’s Anthony Joshua (26-3, 23KOs), who first has to get past Otto Wallin in the evening’s main event. Parker is confident that he will not only ruin those plans but that he will also take the fight out of the judges’ hands.
“Of course, this is a tough test but I know I can knock him out, one hundred percent,” Parker proclaimed during their final pre-fight press conference.
Parker (33-3, 23KOs) has the right team to at least game plan for such an outcome.
The former WBO titlist is a training stablemate of lineal/WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24KOs), the only fighter to ever hang a loss on Wilder. Fury is 2-0-1 in his three-fight series with the Alabama Slammer. He settled for a disputed draw in their December 2018 meeting before earning back-to-back stoppage victories in their rematch and trilogy clash.
Parker relocated from New Zealand two years ago to Morecambe, England to join Fury’s team. His main head trainer is Ireland’s Andy Lee, the former WBO middleweight titlist and Kronk disciple who is Fury’s second cousin and assistant trainer alongside SugarHill Steward.
“I fully expect it,” Lee insisted on the possibility of a Parker knockout.
Activity is also on Parker’s side; Saturday will mark his fourth bout of 2023, all on the heels of a violent eleventh-round knockout defeat to England’s Joe Joyce last September 24 in Manchester, England. The most recent was a third-round knockout of Simon Kean just eight weeks ago also in Riyadh.
Wilder has fought just one round since his October 2021 eleventh-round knockout loss to Fury. It came in a first-round knockout of Robert Helenius last October in Brooklyn, New York. Saturday marks his first piece of ring action since then, versus an opponent he claimed to have ducked him while both were unbeaten titlist during their overlapping title reigns.
The suggestion was met with dismissal by Parker, whose resume includes Joshua, Andy Ruiz (who he beat to win the WBO title in December 2016) and Joyce, all of whom were unbeaten on fight night. He’s also faced longtime contender Dillian Whyte and twice defeated former title challenger Derek Chisora in back-to-back fights in 2021.
“I don’t run from anyone,” scoffed Parker. “As you’ve seen, I fight the best every time.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox