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Joseph Parker is eager to bounce back from his knockout loss to Joe Joyce and tips a rough time for cruiserweight Jack Massey in Manchester.
Joseph Parker has vowed to “start the year off with a bang” and intends to give Jack Massey “a rude awakening” to the heavyweight boxing ranks.
Massey is stepping up from cruiserweight to take on former WBO heavyweight champion Parker in Manchester on January 22 (NZT).
Parker is looking to rebound from the first knockout loss of his career at the hands of Joe Joyce last September, and intends to put in a statement performance to get him back in the mix at the top of the glamour division.
SKY SPORT
A brave Joseph Parker went down fighting in an 11th round knockout loss to Joe Joyce in Manchester.
“Jack’s got my full attention now, and he’s going to get it,” Parker told Sky Sports. “He can come up to heavyweight, but it’s going to be a rude awakening. If he’s taking anything from my last fight then that’s a mistake. I’ll show something better.”
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Parker, now 30-3, makes no excuses for his loss to Joyce and again voiced an appetite for a rematch with the giant Brit. He has also got two other losses in Britain to Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua he would like to avenge.
“[Joyce] was the better man on the day and on that day I gave it everything I had, and it wasn’t good enough. If I could line up a few fights or a few good wins I’d love to have a rematch with him,” Parker told Sky Sports.
“I would love to fight Dillian Whyte again, I think that first fight was very exciting and again on that day, he was the winner, and he got the better of me. There wasn’t a lot in it.
“If I can get a good win over Jack, that could be next.”
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Dillian Whyte and Joseph Parker wnet toe-to-toe in a London thriller in 2018.
Attempts to pin down Joshua haven’t come to anything yet, but Parker would like another fight with the man who took his WBO belt off him.
“David Higgins, my manager sent a message to Matchroom [to ask] if Joshua needed a fight, but we got no reply back,” Parker said.
“He’s got to fight someone. I know he’s looking for a trainer or working with a few trainers in America but if AJ wants a fight, let me finish Jack off, if you’re looking for a fight, come to me. Dillian Whyte, if you’re looking for a fight, I’m available, after I take care of Jack.
“Even Joe Joyce, if you want another fight and no one wants to fight you, let’s go again. I don’t really care. I have no worries about fighting anyone.”
Parker realises he must impress against Massey, a 29-year-old who has fashioned a 20-1 record as a cruiserweight and is the IBO champion in that division.
PHOTOSPORT
Joseph Parker needs a good fight to resurrect his career after sufferance his first knockout loss at the hands of Joe Joyce.
“I know where I am now and I have to build myself back and the person in front of me now is Jack and Jack’s been asking for this fight and he’s going to get it,” Parker told Sky Sports.
“I have left my family for Christmas and New Year, been training up in Morecambe … I’m going to make it worth it by beating him up, smash him as best I can.
“From a loss like that you need to come back and show a better account of yourself and that’s what I want to do.
“The explosive finish is what we all want. He may be a little bit difficult to pin down, and I’ve been studying him and he’s a tough, tough guy. But I don’t think he’s at my level.
“Maybe he saw something the last fight that he could work on to try and get me. But my goal is to go out there and just smash him and start the year off with a bang.”
