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Those are good odds. A quiet $NZ 50 maybe for JP?

Boxing: Joseph Parker rediscovers passion, sets sights on another shot at heavyweight world title

Joseph Parker has rediscovered his passion for boxing, and he's ready to put on a show against Joe Joyce next month as he attempts to summit the heavyweight mountain once again.

Just over a month out from the clash, which has been a long time coming after what Parker described as "torturous" dealings with Frank Warren and Joyce's team, the Kiwi will start sparring this week.

Gruelling, battering, bruising days lie ahead, but Parker - with a smile on his face - wouldn't have it any other way.

The 30-year-old admits the feeling he has towards boxing now is different to the one following his world title victory against Andy Ruiz in 2016.

"When I was champion of the world, I wasn't as happy as I should be," he told Newshub from his Morecambe training base.

"At the time I didn't think it was mental health, but the more I speak on it and discuss it, it sort of points to mental health issues.

"Being champion of the world, not wanting to train, not putting in the work, fighting but there's no reason, no purpose. There was no want to fight, you fight because that's just what you do."

Parker lost his title to Anthony Joshua in 2018 before suffering the second defeat of his career to Dillian Whyte later that year.

Fast forward to the present day and Parker's career is on the up again, with two fights, and two victories with plenty of improvement under new coach Andy Lee.

Still only 30, he says he wants to be a two-time world champion more than ever.

Crucially, he's enjoying it.

He trains day-in day-out with, among others, Tyson Fury, basing himself in the UK, as well as making subtle adjustments to his regiment in a bid to return to greatness, including hiring a chef.

"I've only just begun to be honest," he added. "With this new set-up, and this new team and environment, I'm excited again as a fighter.

"I want it real bad now. If you speak to Andy, I'm showing it every single day. I really want it way more than I wanted it before.

"Now I can say I love fighting, I love training, I love camp life and I have a passion for it again. There's a reason why I'm fighting.

"That's for me, my wife and my kids, and my personal goals. I want to be the champion of the world."

Parker's keen to point out his goal will only come if he keeps improving and winning, with the undefeated Joyce on September 25 the next challenger on the journey. He admits after the way negotiations went, there's a bit more aggression in him than usual.

"There is a bit of fire heading into this fight because of how long it dragged on, and the dodginess with how they tried to conduct themselves with the deals and changing the terms.

"Also because a lot of people doubt that I should be ranked highly in the sanctioning bodies, a lot of people think I'm on my way out now."

With a spring in his step instead of an air of unhappiness when he trains now, the Kiwi heavyweight's out to prove his doubters wrong.

Kiwi heavyweight Joseph Parker hopes to be back in the ring by October.
'I can knock any of them out!': Kiwi boxer Parker reveals who he wants next
With a rematch clause in the contract, he'll have to face Joyce again in December - should he win.

No bother.

"He doesn't know what defeat is. He doesn't know what losing is. I do, and I want to be that person to give him his first defeat. To beat someone like Joe Joyce you have to be smart, physical.

"This camp again we've stepped it up a level. I can't wait for people to see what we've been working on. We're just going to beat him up. He's got a good engine and power and throws a lot of combinations, but he's in for a big surprise."

I've noticed a lot more confidence and positive determination in JP - which is great

If he really nails Joyce in this one, it resets his entire career in a big way

Heres hoping
Need him to punish JJ so much that Warren decides JJ needs a rebuilding fight rather than rematch
Although rematch means guaranteed $$ I suppose

Yes, best I've heard JP talk. Even mentioned that he didn't put in enough and cheating on his diet and conditioning. I know. I said as much despite JP saying how hard he worked. At least he fessed up.

This is a good match-up for JP. He's fought similar sluggers like Whyte and Chisora, so he knows what's coming at him. Add a stiff jab and heaps of punches and he knows what JJ brings. Still, he's slow and JP should break him down over 12 rounds.

Joyce-Parker picked up by ESPN+

ESPN+ will stream the heavyweight clash between top contenders Joe Joyce (14-0, 13 KOs) and Joseph Parker (30-2, 21 KOs) on September 24 from the AO Arena in Manchester, England. The stream also feature female champion Amanda Serrano (42-2-1, 30 KOs), who will attempt to unify her WBO and WBC featherweight titles against unbeaten IBF champion Sarah Mahfoud (11-0, 3 KOs). Joyce-Parker will be broadcast live in the UK on BT Sport Box Office.

The disappearance of Joseph Parker
Duncan Johnstone
09:26, Oct 05 2022

Joseph Parker is facing a major rebuild as the impact of his knockout loss to Joe Joyce is quickly felt in the heavyweight boxing rankings.

Parker, suffering the first knockout loss of his professional career in Manchester last month, has done a disappearing act with most of the major organisations.

Parker has dropped out of the top 15 rankings at the WBA, WBC and IBF.

A brave Joseph Parker went down fighting in an 11th round knockout loss to Joe Joyce in Manchester.
He is still listed at No 2 with the WBO, but that organisation has yet to adjust their rankings that had Joyce ahead of Parker at No 1 and now holding their interim belt following the 11th round KO at Manchester Arena.

Parker had gone into fight month at No 3 with the WBC and No 10 with the WBA.

He wasn’t ranked at the IBF after turning down an eliminator fight with Filip Hrgovic earlier this year to see who could be No 1 there.

Given the questionable rankings systems involved with sanctioning fees, perhaps the best indicator of Parker’s true position in the heated division lies with the independent rankings at the hugely respected Ring magazine.

The loss has seen Parker (30-3) drop from No 4 to No 7. The victorious Joyce (15-0) has risen from No 8 to No 3 with his impressive performance that has put the division on notice.

There’s a slight caveat with the Ring rankings though. They currently don’t include Tyson Fury after he handed in their heavyweight belt. Fury remains the WBC champion though and is a major player in the current scene as the division eagerly seeks a unification fight between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk who holds the WBA, WBO and IBF belts as well as the Ring version.

But retaining a top 10 ranking with Ring is significant for Parker, giving him legitimacy at the elite level where he has spent 338 weeks on their list, bettered only by Wilder (462 weeks) and Joshua (361).

Parker is adamant he remains relevant and is eager to return to action before the end of the year.

Meaningful fights and worthy pay days still await him, but the 30-year-old will clearly need some big results to get his name back into any title conversations.

A look at those close to him in the Ring rankings might help his route back.

Ring Magazine Heavyweight Rankings

Champion - Oleksandr Usyk, 1 Anthony Joshua, 2 Deontay Wilder, 3 Joe Joyce, 4 Andy Ruiz, 5 Dillian Whyte, 6 Luis Ortiz, 7 Joseph Parker, 8 Filip Hrgovic, 9 Frank Sanchez, 10 Zhilei Zhang.

All this talk of HW fights being made has made me think what are JP's plans going forward? Im thinking now he needs a comeback KO win so to ensure that to some degree he needs a drop in opponent standard 1-2 fights to build confidence and ticket payers belief that he can KO someone.
Whyte is fight Franklin - who I know nothing about but presume its a rebuilder fight after his loss, so JP should do similar.
It would be nice to know his plans- I feel Hygovic is ripe for the taking but maybe a builder is needed first and a quick turn around to another punch catcher before upping the ante.
Parker still has a name of value in the UK so should capitalise on that before he is overtaken.

There's some good fights out there for JP if money isn't a major issue.  Couldn't believe that Hrgovic is ranked IBF#1.  He'd be good.  How about Zhang or even Dempsey McKean in OZ?  A very, very good fight that could probably be made is Sanchez.  He needs to fight these fringe contenders.

I thought JP actually improved from his Chisora fight.  JJ was just too good, and JP had a bad fight plan.