Joseph Parker explains how joining forces with Tyson Fury has turned his career around

Joseph Parker takes on the tantalizing heavyweight showdown with Joe Joyce this weekend with more confidence than he’s ever had – and the former champion attributes much of that to Tyson Fury.

After falling back to successive defeats to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte in 2018, Parker has rebuilt himself by taking six straight wins and is now once again on the brink of the world stage, with the looming clash for the interim WBO heavyweight title.

Parker has looked much better in his last two outings, as he wins points from Derek Chisora ​​after appointing Fury’s assistant coach, Andy Lee, as his trainer last year on the recommendation of the Gypsy King.

But it’s not just Fury’s coach Parker has adopted. The New Zealander has lived in Fury’s hometown of Morecambe for most of the past two years, sharing the same gym, sparring partners, nutritionist and even masseuse.

Parker even stayed at Fury’s house before his first meeting with Chisora ​​and is now even known in the area as ‘Morecambe Joe’.

And as the heavyweight contender prepares for what he expects to be an extremely tough encounter against Joyce – one he insists he can win within the range – Parker has explained why joining forces with Fury is such a turning point in his career. turned out.

“More than ever,” Parker told Sportsmail, asking how confident he feels. ‘I had a great camp. At each camp, we simply build on what we’ve already worked on.

“When you surround yourself with guys like Andy Lee as a coach and Tyson Fury who is always around, my brother is here too and we have an undefeated fighter from Ireland [Paddy Donovan]“The whole area is great to be in. That only helps if you go into battle with confidence.’

‘They are winners,’ he continued, ‘but also a group of people who are mentally strong. For example, if you take Andy, he was the world champion, and to take on the fights that he had – he had a lot of knockouts – you have to be mentally strong.

“To be a good fighter you have to be mentally strong, but there is another level you can go to. Tyson is leading the way right now and being around helps not only me, but everyone in the camp.”

Parker is now overwhelmingly positive about his future in boxing, enjoying every training session and seeing a clear route to another world title on the horizon.

That hasn’t always been the case, though, especially after Parker won the 2016 WBO world title with a win over Andy Ruiz Jr.

Parker claimed one of two belts Fury had left after his win over Wladimir Klitschko the year before. But for Parker, like Fury, finally realizing his dream of becoming a champion didn’t prove as rewarding as he expected.

“It was after I won the world championship,” Parker said of his battle. “I had reached my goal and I wasn’t as fulfilled or as happy to be champion as I thought I would be.

“I wanted to be a champion, but I did it to make other people happy. For myself, but also for others.

‘I didn’t enjoy it; there was no smile. Maybe on the outside there is a smile, but inside you don’t really enjoy it.

“There is no fulfillment and you are there just to be there. You are in the gym just to work, but not really to do the work. It’s like doing something, but not doing something. I just went through the motions and didn’t appreciate it or be happy with it the way I am now.’

Parker, who was silent about his struggles at the time, now admits that he had other career paths outside of boxing that he could have focused on.

The 30-year-old made the right decision to continue boxing, but insists: “Now I feel excited again; I love it. I like to train. I’m looking forward to it again, even more than before. Now I’m going to do it for me. Also for my children, but especially for me.’

But it wasn’t until conversations with Fury that Parker really began to understand what he’d been through.

“We’ve talked about it,” he said. “Listen, it was very similar to what we’ve been through, pretty much the same.

“The only difference is that he stopped boxing and it was all over the media while I kept boxing and kept it very quiet. I didn’t really talk about it.

“The more I talk to Tyson, he’s a mental health advocate, and just compare the stories and have very similar stories, we could have had the same thing without really understanding it or knowing what it was.

“It could be mental health, I’m not sure. I wasn’t sure why, and I still don’t know what it was.”

With his love of boxing back, Parker is now fully focused on the task ahead as he prepares for Joyce on Saturday.

Joyce has a rematch clause in place if he loses, meaning Parker will have to beat him twice if he wants to go on and fight for a world title.

However, there is one specific opponent that the heavyweight is also desperate to fight.

“Dillian Whyte,” he said, asking who he’d most like to see next. ‘I would gladly avenge that loss. It was a close fight. Since then, I’ve been calling for a second chance. He has fought with several fighters and did well. He has also suffered a few losses.

“I saw an interview recently where he said he wants to avenge his loss to Joshua and that Joshua should give him that rematch, but I asked for it and he didn’t give it to me.

“It would be a great fight, but first I have to beat Joyce twice, and then I’ll take every fight – but Whyte is first on the list.”