Boxing: Parker planning to unleash fury from the start

Joseph Parker plans to break down Hughie Fury early in their fight. Photo / Photosport

Joseph Parker is planning to attack Hughie Fury from the first bell in his WBO heavyweight world title defence, an onslaught which the New Zealander and his team hope builds to a dramatic knockout victory.

Parker leaves his Las Vegas base for London today to continue his preparations for the fight in Manchester in a fortnight. And, after seeing his 25-year-old charge complete his last 10-round sparring session, trainer Kevin Barry says the camp has been Parker's best in 12 months.

A good start at the Manchester Arena in front of a partisan crowd in Fury's favour is crucial, Barry believes, adding if Parker gets it right, there's little chance of the 22-year-old Englishman staying with him.

"We've probably been a little bit patient in the last two fights," Barry said in reference to Parker's wins over Razvan Cojanu and Andy Ruiz Jr.

"We won't be seeing that in this fight. Everything we've trained to do during this camp is about letting the hands go.

"Joe's the bigger-punching guy, physically he's more powerful than Hughie, he's battle tested, and we're going to be testing this guy's chin out very, very early in the fight.

"If Fury wants to stay in the ring with Joe he's going to be doing a lot of moving. He's not going to stand there and trade punches with him because it will be a very quick fight if that's the case. I expect him to hit and run," said Barry.

The Fury camp is expecting a fast and powerful start from Parker, with the fighter's father and trainer Peter saying in a recent interview: "[Hughie] is prepared for Parker to come on aggressive, he's prepared for Parker to come on and box, he's prepared for Parker to come and try to knock him out."

The stakes could hardly be higher for Parker, who wants a dominant performance, and preferably a spectacular knockout, in order to boost his profile in the United Kingdom ahead of other, more lucrative fights there.

Fellow heavyweight world title holders Anthony Joshua, and Englishman, and Deontay Wilder, an American, are also in Parker's sights but bouts against Brits Tony Bellew, David Haye and even Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora would boost the Kiwi's profile enormously leading to bigger pay days.

Parker will train in Haye's gym while in London - his team make the trip to Manchester on the Wednesday before the fight - and will train with regular sparring partner Malik Scott for the first week or so.

After several below-par performances, which, while they resulted in wins have lacked Parker's previous spark, a new challenge of fighting abroad after 13 bouts on home territory could be just what he needs.

"We expect the Manchester supporters to be a little bit louder than most, but let's remember that for many years Joe travelled the world fighting in amateur tournaments and in many of those he was fighting against the local guy," Barry said. "This challenge excites him. A lot of people think the pressure's on us because we're not fighting at home, well actually the pressure's on this young lad Hughie Fury because he's fighting a very formidable guy, a guy like nothing he's been in the ring with before. He's fighting in front of his fans and family ... the pressure is on.

"Hey, Hughie's got an undefeated record 20-0, but when he fights a real guy like Joseph, a real battle-tested fighter with very fast hands, a guy who is going to unleash his power in this fight, it will be interesting to see how Hughie reacts when Joe hits him hard and fast on the chin.

"Joe has a much higher threshold and is far more mentally tough than Hughie. The plan is to systematically break him down round by round and get him out of there."