WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker's next fight is likely to be in Dunedin in March or April. Photo / Greg Bowker
WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker's next fight is likely to be in Dunedin in March or April. Photo / Greg Bowker
Joseph Parker's handlers say they aren't in any hurry to make a decision on their heavyweight world champion's future, but it appears increasingly likely that he will fight in Dunedin in March or April.
His opponent is likely to be Hughie Fury, the cousin of Tyson, whose drugs test failureand mental health issues opened the way for Parker to claim the vacant WBO title with his majority decision victory over Andy Ruiz jnr at Vector Arena on Saturday.
If so, it would be a good fight for Parker. The undefeated Hughie Fury, 22, is a big man at 1.98m, 5cm taller than the 24-year-old Parker, who will be in the unusual position of fighting a younger opponent.
Parker's best victories have come against bigger men, and he must once again get ready for fighting the giants of the division. Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko, potential opponents next year, are the same height as Fury. WBC champion Deontay Wilder is also tall at 2.01m.
A rematch against Ruiz is not on the agenda, but it appears inevitable that the pair will meet again at some stage.
While Parker's next opponent is yet to be confirmed by Duco Events, one thing appears certain - he won't be kept on the same schedule which has seen him fight 15 times in three years.
The workload has taken its toll, mentally and physically, on Parker and he is in dire need of a break. He is likely to remain in New Zealand for six weeks to two months before returning to Las Vegas.
Trainer Kevin Barry, too, is due for a rest, and will remain here on holiday with wife Tanya and daughter Jordy before returning to his base on January 22.
Barry admitted that Parker had been on a "very, very ambitious schedule", over the past three years. He has been a professional for a little over four years. Asked whether that would continue, Barry said: "Not a chance."
"The truth is, we've had a very, very busy three years and Joe's body is a little tired now. He needs this break, his trainer needs the break."
Asked about Hughie Fury as a potential next opponent, Barry said: "He's definitely one of the options. Right at the moment we're not planning the next fight. We're just celebrating this victory and having some time off.
"Right now we're reflecting on the last four years and what we've achieved as a team together," he said.
Hughie Fury. Photo / Getty Images
Tyson Fury and David Haye, whom Parker was due to meet in a mandatory challenge to his WBO title before the Englishman decided to take what many regard as an easier fight against cruiserweight Tony Bellow, sent Parker messages after his victory, saying "there were big things ahead".
For Barry, there must also be improvement, saying that Parker did not quite follow the specifics of a game plan which targeted Ruiz's ample body.
"There are a couple of things that I was asking him for in the fight yesterday that he didn't deliver - one was a straight right hand to the body and left hook that we have worked multiple times in training. And it works beautifully off the double jab. He was setting the double jab up but he wasn't giving me the third and fourth punch. I asked for that many times during the fight.
Duco's Dean Lonergan on Joseph Parker's next move
"I know that Joe has a really nice liver shot and I thought that Andy might have been the guy that we could have really executed that on, but we didn't.
"As nice as Joe's jab was on the outside, next year I need that jab even stronger and to be thrown more often, because when he's throwing that jab he's in total control. When he doesn't use it, he allows other people to close the distance.
"Now that's he's a world champion, those standards have to be higher now. We have to take it to a whole new level. This is not the end of four years, this is the beginning of Joe's career now."
Like Parker, Barry brushed off the criticism about the decision of the judges to either score the fight a draw or a win for his man. Salven Lagumbay (Philippines) scored it 114-114, with Ramon Cerdan (Argentina) and Ingo Barrabas (Germany) giving it to Parker 115-113.
"I thought it was a very close fight," Barry said. "I thought that Joe scored with a lot of clean punches with his left jab from the outside. We had three independent judges from three different countries around the world that we had no affiliation with."
