By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker can’t wait to get inside the ring to start slugging with Dillian Whyte in their fight in 11 days from now on July 28 at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Parker feels he’s going to do a number on Whyte (23-1, 17 KOs), who isn’t a major puncher. Parker, 26, is concerned about the referee for the fighter after losing to Anthony Joshua last March. In that fight, the referee Giuseppe Quartarone didn’t allow inside fighting. Parker (24-1, 18 KOs) has the right idea by looking to make sure that he takes the referee and judges out of the equation by looking to blast out Whyte.
“I’m going to rumble, let’s get it on,” said Parker to skysports.com. “We’ll get face to face, I’ll test him out, and I’ll see what he’s about. I’m ready to throw hands.”
Parker has no choice but to go toe-to-toe with Whyte. He’s not likely going to come out on top in the fight by boxing Whyte. This is a home fight for Whyte, and that puts Parker behind the eight ball. Parker and his trainer Kevin Barry want to make sure they get a “fair referee” for the fight.
This fight is really important for Parker and Whyte, as the winner has a very good chance of meeting IBF, WBA, WBO champion Anthony Joshua on April 13 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Hearn says he wants to make the Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder unification match, but his actions suggest otherwise. He’s chosen the path of offering Wilder a flat fee instead of a purse split, which you would normally see between two popular fighters, and his efforts at putting the fight together have met with utter failure.
Some fans think Hearn has no intention of letting Joshua fight Wilder, considering that he’s the goose that lays the golden eggs. Joshua’s ticket selling ability and the high PPV buys he brings in against weak opposition make him too value to be put in with a dangerous guy like Wilder. As such, Joshua is almost surely going to be facing the winner of the Whyte-Parker fight on April 13. There’s also a slight chance that Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller could be the one that faces Joshua on April 13 if the Whyte vs. Parker fight turns out to be a stinker in terms of excitement or PPV buys. Miller and Joshua got in each other’s faces at Hearn’s news conference for his DAZN announcement. It looked absolutely staged. Seeing Miller and Joshua facing off was a clear sign that Hearn plans on putting those two in together in April of next year or in August. To be sure, it’ll be disappointing to the boxing public, but that’s how it goes in the sport. It looks like Wilder is being frozen out for a fight against Joshua.
In the meantime, Parker is counting on a good referee being selected for his fight against Whyte on July 28. Parker doesn’t want a repeat of the type of referee that worked his match against Joshua on March 31 in Cardiff, Wales.
“I believe my team will take care of it,” Parker said to Sky Sports News. “I always trust my team and I think from the last fight, and the experience we had with that, they will definitely correct it and I think Kev can touch on that a bit more.”