11-26-2015, 04:41 PM
Joseph Parker's opponent will be primed after sparring with former world champ
Joseph Parker has been working on a simple game plan to counter the 2.02m frame of his American opponent Daniel Martz.
Joseph Parker has no doubt his American opponent Daniel Martz will be in good shape, arriving in New Zealand off a training camp with former world champion Alexander Povetkin.
The unbeaten heavyweight Parker fights Martz (14-2-1) as the headline act in next week's Fight For Life in Hamilton.
Parker has arrived in Auckland after a month's training in Las Vegas following his impressive knockout win over Kali Meehan that took him to No 5 in the WBO rankings.
Martz hasn't fought since July but he's had plenty on his hands. He spent four weeks in Russia helping Povetkin prepare for his recent win over Poland's Mariusz Wach.
Povetkin, the 2004 Olympic gold medallist, scored a 12th round TKO.
Povetkin, who won the WBA heavyweight title in 2011 and defended it four times before suffering his only loss to Wladimir Klitschko, is now the WBC's mandatory challenger and is waiting patiently for his crack at champion Deontay Wilder.
Being in that sort of company is a big rap for the 25-year-old Martz who hails from Clarksburg, West Virginia.
"He's going to be coming here fit and with a lot of confidence. He wouldn't be sparring with Povetkin if he wasn't up to it," Parker said of Martz who arrives in Auckland on Sunday.
Parker's trainer Kevin Barry agreed.
"We know that Martz will be in the best shape that he has been in. He's a big young guy and he will bring some challenges. These are all good things because we wanted the guy to come here in good shape. We gave him plenty of time to prepare, so there will be no excuses from him," Barry said.
Parker has been sparring big fighters in Las Vegas to prepare for the 2.02m Martz who is dubbed "The Mountain". He has watched videos of Martz's fights and prepared accordingly.
"He likes to use his size. He can box from the outside but he also likes to come in and smother you and sort of wrestle you and use his weight," Parker said of Martz.
"I've seen a few openings that I think I can use when I fight him. I feel I have been executing the plan in our training camp, now the most important thing is to do it on the night."
Barry described the game-plan as "simple and accurate".
"I didn't want to complicate things for Joe given we only had four weeks. We have six main combinations for this guy, attacking him on both sides of the body and head. Jo has taken this on very, very well.
"We can't allow Martz to monster Joe when he's on his chest. The angles are very important for us in this fight. Joe's got fast hands but also fast feet so it's a matter of explode in and explode out."
- Stuff
Joseph Parker has been working on a simple game plan to counter the 2.02m frame of his American opponent Daniel Martz.
Joseph Parker has no doubt his American opponent Daniel Martz will be in good shape, arriving in New Zealand off a training camp with former world champion Alexander Povetkin.
The unbeaten heavyweight Parker fights Martz (14-2-1) as the headline act in next week's Fight For Life in Hamilton.
Parker has arrived in Auckland after a month's training in Las Vegas following his impressive knockout win over Kali Meehan that took him to No 5 in the WBO rankings.
Martz hasn't fought since July but he's had plenty on his hands. He spent four weeks in Russia helping Povetkin prepare for his recent win over Poland's Mariusz Wach.
Povetkin, the 2004 Olympic gold medallist, scored a 12th round TKO.
Povetkin, who won the WBA heavyweight title in 2011 and defended it four times before suffering his only loss to Wladimir Klitschko, is now the WBC's mandatory challenger and is waiting patiently for his crack at champion Deontay Wilder.
Being in that sort of company is a big rap for the 25-year-old Martz who hails from Clarksburg, West Virginia.
"He's going to be coming here fit and with a lot of confidence. He wouldn't be sparring with Povetkin if he wasn't up to it," Parker said of Martz who arrives in Auckland on Sunday.
Parker's trainer Kevin Barry agreed.
"We know that Martz will be in the best shape that he has been in. He's a big young guy and he will bring some challenges. These are all good things because we wanted the guy to come here in good shape. We gave him plenty of time to prepare, so there will be no excuses from him," Barry said.
Parker has been sparring big fighters in Las Vegas to prepare for the 2.02m Martz who is dubbed "The Mountain". He has watched videos of Martz's fights and prepared accordingly.
"He likes to use his size. He can box from the outside but he also likes to come in and smother you and sort of wrestle you and use his weight," Parker said of Martz.
"I've seen a few openings that I think I can use when I fight him. I feel I have been executing the plan in our training camp, now the most important thing is to do it on the night."
Barry described the game-plan as "simple and accurate".
"I didn't want to complicate things for Joe given we only had four weeks. We have six main combinations for this guy, attacking him on both sides of the body and head. Jo has taken this on very, very well.
"We can't allow Martz to monster Joe when he's on his chest. The angles are very important for us in this fight. Joe's got fast hands but also fast feet so it's a matter of explode in and explode out."
- Stuff