Joseph Parker and Tyson Fury are like brothers
Heavyweight Joseph Parker has claimed that he will never fight Tyson Fury despite his ambition to regain a world title, “I think I’ll never fight him. I’ll let him do his thing and fight everyone else."
The former WBO heavyweight champion believes he will have to look elsewhere for another world title, with a couple of options available in the form of Oleksandr Usyk, who holds all the other major world titles – WBA Super, IBF, WBO and the IBO. There's also WBA Regular champion Trevor Bryan, who won his version of a world title on January 29, 2021 and is set to defend the black and gold belt exactly one year on to the day against unbeaten Louisiana heavyweight Jonathan Guidry.
30-year-old Parker was the WBO champion between 2016-2018 before losing to Anthony Joshua, and after two wins over Derek Chisora last year, he is back in the frame for a potential world title shot later this year.
The New Zealand native has decided, in the face of his home country’s Covid restrictions, to base himself in the UK for now, and has been training with close friend Fury and trainer Andy Lee in Morecambe for some time. New Zealand rugby star Sonny Bill Williams has also been pictured in attendance.
Fury has been ordered to make a fight with his WBC mandatory Dillian Whyte and a purse bid should be completed by January 21st, with a late March fight date provisionally scheduled.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Parker said: “I’m back into training, back into training camp with Tyson.
“We’ve got Sonny Bill Williams here doing some training for his fight, David Nyika back on board.
“It’s great to be back training.”
Discussing his close relationship with the 'Gypsy King', he said: “We have a great relationship, he treats me like a younger brother, his whole family looks after me.
“I’ve based myself here in Morecambe now. I’ve stayed in his house, I’m using his gym.
“I think I’ll never fight him. I’ll let him do his thing and fight everyone else.
“I’ll try to go another path and do my best to win the other belts if I can."
Fury is currently locked in negotiations with WBC mandatory contender Dillian Whyte, but his US promoter Bob Arum has already stated Fury will fight in March regardless of the outcome of the purse bids and has named Robert Helenius and Andy Ruiz Jr as potential opponents.
Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk are tied up in a rematch set for the spring this year.
So the only available world champion is the aforementioned Trevor Bryan, if he can get through his next title defence successfully, but Parker is only ranked 14th with the WBA, so will have to fight again to work his way up higher in the list. However, Briton Daniel Dubois is in the top spot with the WBA and chasing the fight with Bryan this year.
Things you didn't know about Joseph Parker
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