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How Joseph Parker escaped boxing’s great void to threaten Daniel Dubois’ reign

When Joseph Parker became world champion, four weeks before his 25th birthday, he could not have imagined what would follow: neither the floor falling out from beneath him, 18 months into his title reign, nor that he would spend six years in the void below.

That aching residency began with Parker’s title loss to Anthony Joshua in 2018, and his subsequent defeat by Dillian Whyte. Even as Parker strung together five victories, including back-to-back wins over Derek Chisora, the platform he once stood upon was just coming back into view – still floating tantalisingly above him. At that exact point, along came Joe Joyce to kick the New Zealander back into the darker depths. By then, in late 2022, Parker’s career rebuild must have felt like a Sisyphean task.

Again the heavyweight was forced to forge a win streak, and again he clawed himself upwards. His reward for winning three straight fights? A meeting with Deontay Wilder, his generation’s most violent puncher. Yet Parker, in that bid to rebuild his career, had also undergone a boxing rebirth. He bullied Wilder for 12 rounds, securing his fourth win in 2023. So, when his next obstacle was revealed as Zhilei Zhang, who had brutalised Joyce twice, Parker was unblinking.

Floored twice, he was still unblinking. And by battling to a decision win, Parker at last hoisted himself onto the platform he had not touched in six years. On Saturday, as he challenges IBF champion Daniel Dubois, Parker will finally fight for a world title again.

“I always believed I had the ability to do well again, but when you have a few defeats and things aren’t going your way, you start asking yourself questions,” the 33-year-old tells reporters. “[But] I think those questions helped get me to where I am today: ‘What am I doing wrong? Am I eating the right food, training the right way, resting enough?’ I never had any doubt, I never wanted to give up, but I knew I had to make changes.”

Parker credits his coach Andy Lee and nutritionist George Lockhart for bringing those changes, “and now we’re back fighting for a world championship, it’s beautiful. Knowing I’m fighting for that, it does make it worth missing out on Christmas, New Year, birthdays, weddings.”

It might not have felt worth it, though. There were moments against Zhang, who twice dropped the Kiwi, when it seemed all of Parker’s progress would prove futile. In each instance, Parker was seconds away from defeat – from needing to go away again and secure even more wins. How many times can a fighter rebuild, or be reborn? Yet Parker did not look beyond the immediate task of getting back up.

“There are moments in fights when you’re doing quite well, then you get caught,” he tells The Independent. “You know as soon as the ref says, ‘Continue fighting,’ someone’s gonna chase you down and throw everything he has at you. Those are the moments when you have to really knuckle down, show good form, and be calm under pressure. I think if Zhang had a better gas tank, it could’ve been a different fight. But I did my work, my fitness and endurance was very good.

“I did a bit of work on staying calm under pressure, with a few guys outside of boxing. Also, you can practise all this with sparring partners, when your coach comes forward. I think you have to practise for every situation that comes your way. Also, using imagery in your head, I think, is very important as well – because when something happens, it’s not a shock to the system; you’ve already played it many times, you know how to come back from it.”

That imagery may be important against Dubois. Parker has a real chance in Riyadh, but the odds favour the Briton, who will enter the Kingdom Arena on the back of stoppages against Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Joshua. In fact, the 27-year-old has had a similar resurrection to Parker’s.

“I have to up my game for Daniel,” Parker says, “because when you compare Daniel’s output to Zhang and Deontay, his is a lot higher. He applies more pressure. Wilder ran, circled the ring; Zhang applied pressure, but he wasn’t coming forward as much as Daniel does.”

Parker knows the dangers of pressure all too well, but it hasn’t always come from his opponents.

“Before, I was doing this more for my dad, because he wanted me to be champion of the world,” he says. “It was more for him and my last coach. Now that I have a family, the ‘why’ is different. That brings a different approach. I guess that’s why I enjoy [boxing] a lot more now.

“I want to do this more for me, my family, New Zealand and Samoa. Both my parents were born in Samoa, I have a very strong heritage. They’ve given me High Chief names to honour what we’ve been doing to represent the country. I go to Samoa two, three, four times a year. My grandad still lives there, my grandma. My mum is one of 27 kids, spread around the world. My dad is one of 28, I think – adopted family. A lot of tickets to give out!

“The Samoan people are warrior people. That needs to be in play to fight Daniel.”