Battling to return to the elite ranks of the heavyweight division, Joseph Parker has made radical changes to the way he prepares for a fight. Elijah Fa’afiu spent time with Parker and his team ahead of Wednesday night’s fight in Melbourne.
Monday 22 May, 7.21pm: Two days out from the fight
Joseph Parker has just woken up from his early evening nap — a new development in his schedule. He quickly throws on a hoodie and shorts before meeting me at the garage of his penthouse suite in St Kilda.
He’s a foot taller than me. His handshake is firm, but not crushing. He looks trimmer than I expected.
With us is Poasa Baice, Parker’s first cousin and a pivotal team member who handles some of the logistics for the boxer. He explains the significance of this trip for his family, with his two younger brothers joining the Team Parker roadshow for the first time — one of them is hoping to follow in Joseph’s footsteps.
“I promised my younger brother Victor if he won his fight, he could come along to Melbourne.”
7.35pm
Parker is checking out his spacious suite at the top of the Opera, there’s a beautiful view overlooking St Kilda Road as it stretches towards the downtown area.
Trainer Chris Martin sits on a long white couch, watching Monday’s press conference. He’s been personally called in by Parker to help out, with incumbent trainer Andy Lee in Ireland preparing for a card featuring his mentee Katie Taylor in her fight against Chantelle Cameron.
Parker, Martin and top nutritionist and strength and conditioning coach George Lockhart are the only occupants in the penthouse so far.
“In 10 years of boxing, this is the first time I’ve changed my schedule,” Parker tells me.
His Monday schedule, as was the case for the majority of the camp, consisted of a 10am wake-up, 11am breakfast, 2pm training, 3.30pm lunch, 6pm dinner, 7:30pm snack and gym at 9pm.
The 31-year-old would adjust the plan to fit in naps or other commitments, but for the most part, he stuck as close as he could to Lockhart’s new plan.
“Were you open to change?” I asked.
“It just made sense,” Parker replied.
During his last camp against Jack Massey in the United Kingdom, Parker could only sleep for four-five hours, taking melatonin to put his mind at ease.
His risky move to continue preparations over Christmas and New Year’s without seeing his family meant he was over-trained for the January fight.
He knew an adjustment was necessary at this stage of his career.
Martin says Parker is doing a good job at “pushing when he needs to be pushed, staying fit and keeping his heart steady” during the camp.
“Do I even have a heart?” Parker jokes.
7.45pm
Lockhart wakes up from his nap to prepare Parker’s evening snack. He’s hurrying; the food was supposed to be served 15 minutes ago.
“He does everything for me — the cooking, the grocery shopping,” Parker explains. “I used to do the shopping before, but I’d get tempted by the fizzy drinks, the chips, the lollies — so I’m glad George is in charge of that now.
“At the start of camp, I was eating around 2000 calories. Now it’s 4000-5000.”
Lockhart serves a delicacy: there’s cacao, Greek yoghurt, berries and nuts, with apple slices laid out around the plate.
The new diet and training regime have had an effect. At one point, with his shirt off, Parker points to his trim midriff. “These abs weren’t here before.”
7.50pm
While Parker digs into his snack, Martin dials up a playlist of some of Parker’s favourite tracks. The hits of the 1980s are heavily represented; all the songs on his non-boxing playlist come from before the year 2000 — Queen, George Michael, Whitney Houston, James Taylor and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons are standouts.
Parker is messaging Lee, who is supposed to arrive tomorrow morning.
But a slight miscalculation means Lee is landing in Melbourne in just over an hour. Parker scrambles to organise a driver to pick up his trainer from the airport; Lee asks Parker if the 9pm gym session can be pushed to 9.30pm to allow the Irishman to meet with his fighter.
The changes to Parker’s preparations mean he has had to sacrifice time with his family. It’s tough. Although he’s paid for all of them to stay in nearby apartments in Melbourne, he’s rarely had an opportunity to see them in person throughout camp — they chat on the phone or make video calls.
Today is his youngest daughter Esme’s first birthday. Parker hasn’t been able to see her all day. There’s a hint of remorse in the father-of-four’s voice as he mentions this, but he understands he’s in this fight for his family.
8.30pm
Close friend Kerry Russell, who helps Parker produce videos and social media, and Parker’s sister Liz have arrived. On a tour of the penthouse, Parker takes us into his bedroom where he gives a sneak peek of his in-ring outfit: a dark blue top with traditional Samoan patterns down the side to go with his blue shorts with gold trim.
The topic of Parker’s movie skits comes up. Russell is the mastermind behind the videos, which showed a lighter side to the hard-nosed boxer during lockdown. In the skits, Parker would play out scenes from popular movies — the boxer admits he’s never even seen most of the films he was re-enacting. Although he says he has seen Love Actually since impersonating Hugh Grant’s famous dancing scene.
“I remember watching it and I thought, ‘Wow, I didn’t do too bad!’” Parker says.
9.15pm
Parker gets ready for his late-night gym session with his team. As he gets ready, his mum Sala calls Liz.
“Tell Mum I love her!” Parker yells as he gets changed. Sala is unwell and won’t be at Margaret Court Arena.
I say farewell to the team as they head to their light hit-out. Lee has just touched down at Melbourne Airport – it’s the boost Parker needs a couple of days out from the fight.
Wednesday 24 May, 11.30am: Fight day
Team Parker gathers in the lobby of the apartment building for the traditional team walk.
The walk takes about half an hour. The 17-strong group stroll briskly through nearby Fawkner Park, decorated with the leaves of late autumn. It’s a simple idea: get out of the apartment and get some fresh air. In his old fight preparation scheme, Parker would have done this much earlier in the day.
Baice, joined by his younger brothers Ma’a and Victor, mentions how Team Parker haven’t had an opportunity to explore Melbourne as they want to stay low-key.
“We’ve got a job to do first and foremost.”
Meanwhile, Parker is all smiles. He spends some time with his close circle before they gather later in the evening at Margaret Court Arena.
12.15pm
Back at the penthouse suite, the playlist sticks rigidly to the pre-2000s theme. The mood instantly kicks in with Blackstreet’s Don’t Leave Me.
A quick chat with Lee and Parker’s brother John reveals their shared sentiment that Joseph is “the most focused he’s ever been” leading up to a fight.
It’s the balance Parker had talked about in his pre-fight interviews — staying calm but locked in on the task in front of him.
Lee says his only concern was not being around Parker for the past two weeks, but he’s confident his fighter’s flame never dimmed during that period.
12.25pm
Sixteen-year-old Victor Baice, Poasa’s younger brother and a newcomer in the boxing ranks, gets an opportunity of a lifetime to hit the pads with Andy while Joseph gets ready for his light workout.
The table and chairs in the penthouse suite are moved to the side as Parker begins rope-skipping. Lockhart and Lee have a swift discussion about not letting the heavyweight’s heart rate get too high.
12.45pm
Parker puts on blue Adidas boots, which surprisingly wouldn’t be his choice of footwear that evening to stay in line with his outfit’s theme.
He begins hitting pads with Lee. Each jab and hook gets increasingly louder, eventually blocking out the lyrics of the music blasting through the room.
1.30pm
It’s time for the heart rate to come down. John Parker sets up a game of poker on the dining table, with the two Parker brothers, Lockhart, Lee and Baice among the competitors.
Baice, with one of the lines of the game, yells at Joseph: “Why did you call me? I’m your cousin!”
In between each dealer shuffling and handing out cards, Parker dances to whatever hip-hop song is playing on the speaker. Latto’s Big Energy creates a fun vibe within the Opera suite, with even the less-demonstrative Lee mimicking Parker’s upper body movements in tune with the song.
2.10pm
Team Parker clears out for lunch, leaving Joseph to rest ahead of the fight.
As Parker’s close circle moves out, the 31-year-old lays out his plan for the rest of the day: there’s lunch, a nap and a fruit bowl upon waking, before making his way to Margaret Court Arena to prepare for his comeback fight Down Under.
8.40pm: In the changing room
Parker’s changing room is relaxed when I enter, there are around 25 people there. There’s no music playing.
Fellow Kiwi fighter David Nyika used the same room for his fight earlier in the evening and some of his team have stuck around in the locker room to support Parker. Coincidentally, Team Nyika and Team Parker are all dressed in blue — my brown overcoat reveals I never got the dress-code memo.
The broadcast camera enters the room as Lee wraps Parker’s hands. Parker asks for music to be played to get him into the zone. Under The Influence by Chris Brown starts things off — the 2022 release is a mellow tune, but the tempo rises with each track that follows.
9pm
Tyson Fury enters the room as his doppelganger, Tom Bellchambers, viciously knocks out Cam Mooney on the screen in an exciting brawl between former AFL players. The Gypsy King has been in Melbourne for a few days to show support for his great Kiwi-Samoan mate.
Fury greets Parker and the rest of his family, proclaiming the horrors of flying from the UK to Australia. “It took me three-four days to sleep!”
9.10pm
As the fight nears, things are stepping up on the playlist front; Parker starts lacing his boots, lip-syncing to J Cole’s G.O.M.D (a 2014 release).
Dempsey Parker and Malaesa Rudy Baice, Parker’s father and uncle, have made their way to the changing room. The fighter’s uncle starts changing into a lavalava and traditional ula fala necklace as he’ll once again lead his nephew out to battle for his entrance.
Parker has gone quiet. He says very little. He’s entered fight mode, while everyone around him continues to chatter away.
9.25pm
Parker lifts the intensity by skipping rope, with Lockhart making sure his client’s heart rate is stable.
On-screen, up-and-coming super welterweight Nikita Tszyu has finished his opponent Benjamin Bommber in rapid fashion, bringing the main event forward slightly.
An official enters the room to let Parker’s team know they’ll be on in five minutes.
Lee says he needs 10 minutes for Parker; the official acquiesces.
Fury positions his chair directly in front of Parker as he’s preparing, recording him for his Instagram story.
9.35pm
The room — which has by now filled with around 35 people — remains a relaxed environment, with Parker and his trainers managing to flip the switch at the right time.
The playlist also escalates to Roy Jones Jr’s Can’t Be Touched (2004) and Scribe’s banger Not Many (2003) — two songs which encapsulate Parker’s career for the most part.
As Parker finishes hitting the pads, Faiga ‘Django’ Opelu has entered the ring, sporting an ula fala necklace of his own to acknowledge his proud Samoan heritage.
A quick prayer with Parker’s team wraps as the cameras enter, with the boxer’s new theme song Bulletproof (recorded by his cousin Ravi) playing around Margaret Court Arena — the beginning of a new era.
10.03pm: Post-fight
Not even half an hour has passed, and Parker is celebrating in the dressing room after an emphatic first-round knockout over Opelu.
There’s chaos, with the room pretty much crammed — maybe 70 people are in here.
Joseph remains all smiles as he poses for pictures with fans who have snuck past security, but the big man finds time to sit with his wife Laine to soak in the glow of his 32nd victory.
The two have known each other since they were 13. They began dating at 15, going on to have four daughters together.
The playlist has moved in the most Australian direction. Fury and Lockhart play air guitar to AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long.
There’s a mix of joy, happiness and relief, particularly from Lockhart himself, the new face in Team Parker.
“You can be as confident as you want but it’s when that bell rings — you just never know.”
Lockhart’s strict diet and sleeping plan for Parker has paid dividends. There’s hope the duo can work alongside long-term if the former US marine isn’t too busy helping Tyson and Tommy Fury.
11.10pm
Joseph Parker prepares to drive off from Margaret Court Arena, but thanks everyone in his team for a spectacular evening before he leaves.
“What are your plans for tonight, Joe?” I ask.
“Go home and see the kids,” he replies straight away. There’s no partying for the victor — he’s a dad who needs to make up for the lost time he’s had to sacrifice during his camp.
Parker’s wife Laine is in the passenger seat; Lee, Lockhart and Martin are in the back seat. It’s a new-look Team Parker that’s set the platform for the heavyweight’s journey back to the top flight of the heavyweight ranks. Parker is in the driver’s seat.