How Joseph How Parker bounced back from devastating loss to close in on world-title glory

Joseph Parker has proven across a career spanning 13 years that he will fight absolutely anyone, and this willingness to risk it all has put him in dire straits on more than one occasion.

But it has also now left him one fight away from a shot at the undisputed heavyweight titles.

After Parker lost his WBO heavyweight title in 2018 to Anthony Joshua and followed that up with a defeat by Dillian Whyte, it looked as though Parker was destined to exist on the fringes for the rest of his career.

But he made a change and brought on world champion trainer Andy Lee and set about getting himself back to the top of the heavyweight division. He stayed incredibly active, beating Derek Chisora twice and a handful of low-level names before risking it all to take on the undefeated Olympic silver medallist Joe Joyce.

Parker fell short again, but has made another incredible resurgence, while Joyce seems to have fallen by the wayside. But how exactly did he overtake the first man to ever knock him out and become mandatory challenger to Oleksandr Usyk?

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When Parker and Joyce came face-to-face in 2022, it was a battle between a heavyweight on the rise and one in the midst of a rebuild.

Parker was only in his third fight with his new head trainer, Andy Lee, and with the relationship in its infancy, it would be harsh to expect huge improvements in that space of time.

It was obvious in the early goings that Parker did not have the power or the physicality to halt the robotic yet relentless advance of Joyce. The Kiwi threw the kitchen sink at Joyce for the first five rounds, and the Brit didn’t wince or take a backwards step.

By the fifth round, it also became clear that Parker did not have anywhere near the fitness to maintain the pace or power he was required to fight with to put a dent in Joyce, who continued to land clubbing blows to head and body, pushing Parker from pillar to post.

Parker fought with his heart on his sleeve, but by the 11th round he was resigned to throwing hopeful overhand rights that would simply bounce off Joyce – he didn’t have the firepower to do any damage and didn’t have the game plan to outbox the giant.

After a brief inside exchange, Joyce landed a punctuating left hook on an exhausted Parker with a cut over one eye and the other swelling shut. Parker fell, and the referee had seen enough after Parker bravely rose to his feet as he called the fight off.

Following the Joyce loss, Parker and Lee had to go back to the drawing board. Parker, prior to the first Chisora fight, said if he and Lee could get the win, he wanted their partnership to be a long-term endeavour, and despite the career-halting defeat by Joyce, he stuck to his word and entrusted Lee with his development.

But as much as Lee could do to help Parker’s technical development, he was not qualified to oversee his strength and conditioning, which reared itself as a serious problem in the fight.

Parker brought on George Lockhart, whom he met through their mutual friend Tyson Fury, and credits him with transforming him physically from weighing sometimes under 230lbs to regularly weighing in excess of 240lbs.

Rather than spiking his weight in relation to his opponents, Lockhart raised Parker’s baseline weight and conditioned him to operate with strength and speed for the full 12 rounds.

Whilst Parker suffered the agony of defeat, he intelligently adapted and made positive changes to make himself a more well-rounded and explosive fighter to compete with the increasing incidence of heavyweight giants like Joyce.

But Joyce, perhaps enjoying the revels of victory and claiming the WBO interim title, seemed to make no changes heading into his next fight with a man equalling if not exceeding his size, Zhilei Zhang.

‘The Juggernaut’ had become too accustomed to being able to take advantage of his size and durability to overwhelm opponents rather than add any defensive nuance to his game, and when faced with Zhang, he devastatingly paid the price.

Joyce lost two back-to-back fights by knockout against Zhang to throw his career completely off course and has seemed to never quite recover, most recently losing to a 40-year-old Derek Chisora and Filip Hrgovic.

Exemplifying the stark difference between a fighter willing to adapt and one stuck in his ways, Parker has been able to back to the top and Joyce has been moved out of the picture entirely.

It was obvious that after Parker’s first fight under the watchful eye of Lockhart that the Kiwi had found the right formula, dispatching Faiga Opelu and Simon Kean, both inside three rounds, to claim WBO and IBF intercontinental honours.

Parker could have taken longer to manage his rebuild and beaten more lower-level opposition, but he instead took a big risk and accepted a fight against Deontay Wilder, who was still only two years removed from his trilogy with Tyson Fury and coming off the back of a first-round knockout of Robert Helenius.

‘The Bronze Bomber’ was still very much viewed as one of the most dangerous heavyweights at the time, and Parker had not competed at that level since the Joyce loss.

It was a huge risk for his career, but Parker took the leap of faith.

Parker put on a show, demonstrating the lessons he learned from the Joyce defeat. He did not commit to the knockout, but physically dominated Wilder and forced him to box in retreat, something he is well-known for struggling with.

Wilder looked gun-shy, and Parker took advantage, outworking the American and nearly ending the fight on more than one occasion.

The fight went the distance, and Parker looked comfortable for all 12 rounds, claiming a lopsided points victory and the risk of fighting one of the sport’s most devastating punchers had paid off.

There was no time to waste, however, and Parker threw himself into an even riskier fight next – against WBO interim champion and the man who had just knocked out Joyce twice, Zhilei Zhang.

This was the perfect chance for Parker to measure exactly how much he had improved since his defeat by Joyce.

Once again, Parker boxed to a strict game plan, not overcommitting to the knockout against a man who had never been stopped and possessed freakish size and power.

He boxed smart, landing effective work and exiting before the hulking Chinese contender could get to him.

It didn’t all go Parker’s way; he suffered knockdowns in rounds three and eight, being forced to dig deeper than ever before to walk away with a majority decision victory and the WBO interim title he holds today.

At that point, Parker had more than earned his shot at a world title, which he was destined to have against Daniel Dubois, the IBF titlist, in February – but Dubois pulled out two days before fight night and left Parker scrambling.

But rather than wait around for another title shot, Parker accepted a fight against the ‘bogeyman’ of the division, Martin Bakole, in defence of his interim title.

Parker once again risked his position and chance to be a world champion again, but put on one of his career-best performances to knock out Bakole inside two rounds.

In a career characterised by a willingness to take on any opponent at any time, Parker will once again put it all on the line to defend his position as mandatory challenger for the undisputed titles.

With the titles tied up and Parker happily at the front of the queue, he could have waited out the storm and fought Oleksandr Usyk next year.

But he knew that if he wanted to have his best chance, he needed to stay active, and in taking on Fabio Wardley, he will face another of the heaviest hitters in the division for his fourth consecutive fight.

Parker has well and truly earned his shot the hard way and could have fallen at any hurdle in the last three years, but his unrelenting perseverance and ability to adapt have made him the number one contender in the division, and he can cement that position on Saturday night.

Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley fight this Saturday, October 25, to become the WBO mandatory challenger to Oleksandr Usyk. Watch the fight and undercard live and exclusive on DAZN PPV.

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