Fighters say all sorts of wild things in the lead up to their bouts, particularly when those bouts are on pay per view broadcasts. Gotta take all of that chat with a grain of salt...especially when it’s Joseph Parker. He has this tendency of promising knockouts despite the fact that at this stage in his career we all know that he’s simply never gonna be a KO artist against the top tier of opponents. He’s been knocking unranked plebs out from day one but different story against guys of a similar level.

Knockouts sell tickets, that’s true. Knockouts are big and dramatic and they get people talking. But it’s crazy to think that you can’t be an elite fighter without putting jokers on the canvas. Of course you can. Because wins sell tickets too. Title fights and eliminators and bouts with meaning sell tickets. Joseph Parker’s all good being who he is – quick hands and good footwork and solid fundamentals – and if the situation arises then he can still drop a joker with a mean combination and a sustained tactical assault. He just doesn’t have one-punch power.

So along the same line of thinking, when JP is out here saying that this Chisora rematch could be make or break in his career... nah mate. It’s be a blow if he were to lose, same as with any fight, but remember he did win the first meeting. It was close, Chisora’s still moaning about it, but it was a fair win. Parker’s never been knocked out and he’s fought some belters in his time. Chances are he won’t lose that way. Now, were he to go down in a close-decision then yeah that’d keep him at arm’s length from another title swing... but not really sure that title swing is within range if he wins either.

Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua were supposed to have taken care of that by now but then Fury was legally mandated to take a third fight against Deontay Wilder, which he won in a modern classic, meanwhile Anthony Joshua had to therefore take on his mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk... and lost. And we’ve gotten no closer to that clarity since because Usyk and Joshua have a rematch coming while Fury is expected to fight Dillian Whyte after the WBC ordered that defence of the belt. Presumably the winners of each will fight each other afterwards meaning that even if Parker does angle his way to the front of the challenger queue then a title bout probably can’t happen until the end of next year at the absolute soonest. And that’s supposing he can get to the front of the queue because that’ll take more than another win over Derek Chisora.

Also let’s not forget that Joseph Parker and Tyson Fury are boys. Andy Lee, who trains both of them (he’s Parker’s head trainer, Fury’s assistant), straight up said the other week that Parker and Fury would never fight each other. Both Fury and Parker have said similar things at other times through the years. The pair met when Parker fought Tyson’s cousin Hughie back in 2017 and the mutual respect has since grown into a genuine and close friendship. Which is nice... at least something positive came from that fight because the bout itself was a mess with Hughie barely throwing a punch and the lead-in was even messier as David Higgins went toe to toe with Peter Fury. The cringe was unbearable.

In other words, Parker’s kinda waiting for Tyson Fury to retire if he’s gonna get another world title belt. Which, to be fair, was how he got his first one – beating Andy Ruiz for the vacant WBO jewellery. Tyson Fury has himself a five-fight hit-list that he wants to tick off before he decides there’s nothing left to achieve in the sport so he might only be in the business for two more years. And Parker’s only 29 right now. He’s often spoken of retiring relatively early, not wanting to be one of those 40 year old sluggers still at it, but he’s got a few years left for sure. Especially with that motivation.

All of that in the bag now, this rematch against Derek Chisora isn’t the be all and end all that it’s being advertised as... but it should be a very funky match-up. Rematches always are because you’ve got that first scrap to build upon tactically. If there’s a rematch, it usually means that it was either a really close fight or an upset. This was the former. Usyk vs Joshua is the latter. Which dude will make the better adjustments? Which dude will spot something in the tape that they can exploit? Which dude will come in with more motivation?

To be honest, Joseph Parker feels way more poised to make those improvements. This is his second fight under Andy Lee’s tutelage and both Lee and Parker have spoken heaps about how fight one simply didn’t given them enough time to get into the swing of things. It came only eight weeks after he fought Junior Fa and when you factor in international travel and covid procedures and all that... it was always going to be hints rather than answers as to how Parker would look under Lee.

This time they’ve been in camp since Parker dashed over to Las Vegas to hook up with the wider Tyson Fury camp ahead of Fury vs Wilder III. Playing air guitar in the sheds beforehand. Hanging with the lads. That was more than two months ago. Two months was the entirety of the time between fights last time, now it’s the amount of time he’s had in direct training. Not to mention the homework he’s done since April in the aftermath of that first meeting. With Tyson Fury as Mr Motivator too…

Andy Lee: “We only had five weeks [before the first Chisora fight]. It just wasn't enough time to effect any change or embed any habits or instincts that we were trying to work on. This time Joe has a greater understanding of what we’re trying to do. We’ve had all that time together and even when we’re not in camp he’s been working on it by himself speaking to each other, working on the mindset.”

Now Lee’s talking about being ahead of schedule. About seeing a “change” in Parker. In fairness there’s similar scope with Chisora in as much as he was also working with a new trainer last time in Buddy McGirt. Though since then he’s gone back to his old trainer Dave Coldwell so dunno. Chisora’s an experienced guy with a well-established style of fighting. Front foot. Aggressive. Hard punches. No matter who’s in his corner it’s only going to be slight tweaks to the formula whereas Joe Parker could potentially have some revolutionary differences under Andy Lee. We don’t know yet. We’ll find out.

Parker won the first fight. It was close enough for Chisora to feel aggrieved, especially after he bossed the early rounds, but watching it back only stacks up the decision. Parker got dropped after seven seconds and that clouded the rest of the bout to some extent. A slippery error out of the gates that could have been crucial had Parker not steadied himself, avoided further damage, and then eventually ground it out as his superior fitness came to the forefront.

That fitness should be right in the middle of the plan again. Chisora is going to come out swinging and he’s going to tire himself out for the latter rounds. Parker has the legs to go the distance, he’s done so in 8 of his last 13 bouts. So it’s a matter of how active he’s going to be with his hands in the first half of the bout. He has to be wary of catching a blaster from an aggressive DC but at the same time he needs to engage his opponent in order for that fitness to be a factor later on. That’s where we’ll see the Andy Lee influence, hopefully. Last time, according to CompuBox, Parker landed an average of 13.2 punches per round in the first half and 17 per round in the back half compared to Chisora who averaged a whopping 26.3 punches in rounds 1-6 and then only 14.5 in rounds 7-12.

Joseph Parker by another decision feels like the most likely outcome. You never do know against someone with undeniable knockout power but it feels like the two biggest variables from fight one to fight two are that seven second knockdown and the new trainer factor and both of those seem to favour Parker. He’s probably not gonna get knocked down inside ten seconds again and he’s had so much more time to work with Andy Lee – with the added benefit of having that initial fight as a baseline. This is also his first career rematch which could be funky.

But wait there’s more... because David Nyika is scrapping it out on the undercard against Frenchman Anthony Cardin, a 31 year old cruiserweight who has a career record of 5 wins, 6 defeats, and 2 draws. Should last longer than the 29 second KO of his pro debut but you’d imagine this’ll be another walkover win once more. Which is fine, it’s all about getting on the undercard of a major fight and making his name known. Unbeaten local cruiser pro Jordan Thompson (11-0 and another Andy Lee student) is also on this card so the wider cruiser division will be paying attention.

Nyika has very deliberately aligned himself with Parker’s camp after sparring with him before the Junior Fa bout. He’s working hard with Andy Lee same as JP is – interesting to see how that shows in Nyika’s technique as he’s a great technical fighter but his stance is slightly unorthodox as a guy who’s come up as a bit of an outsider. Parker in turn has aligned himself with the British heavyweight scene. Nyika clearly sees that as his best pathway. Makes sense.

This is only Nyika’s second pro bout and he is still eligible to fight at the Commonwealth Games so long as he doesn’t go past five pro efforts. Which he won’t in that time - hence there could be another amateur to pro to amateur to pro swing for him in 2022. Might as well, right? A chance at a third Comm Games gold. He’d be a big favourite after taking home a bronze from the Olympics. But yeah this bout against Anthony Cardin probably ain’t gonna be anything other than an introduction for him – it’s the very first fight on the schedule whereas Joe Parker is obviously up last as the main event so there’ll be some time to kill in between there.

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