Parker to give opponent an earful
Joseph Parker says he's leaner, faster and ready to give his next opponent an earful.
The New Zealand heavyweight boxer arrived back home from Las Vegas on Monday to prepare for his July 5 fight against American Brian Minto, who beat Shane Cameron in Auckland in December.
Parker's camp says the boxer is angry about comments attributed to Minto saying the Kiwi's ear hasn't recovered from a battering it suffered during his victory over Brazilian Marcelo Nascimento in Germany in late April.
Parker didn't seem too angry when he spoke to NZ Newswire as he watched the Warriors rugby league team train at Mt Smart Stadium on Tuesday, but he was looking forward to a few words with Minto at a media session on Wednesday.
"We had a good relationship when he was fighting Shane Cameron, we became good mates and I looked after him and everything, but now he's going around and talking a whole lot of crap," Parker said.
"I'm looking forward to tomorrow and confronting him with what he's been saying and definitely giving it to him."
However, he said he realised the talk was "part of the game", and he wanted to leave most of his talking for the boxing ring on July 5.
Parker said he had analysed the Nascimento fight and was working on becoming fitter and faster.
"Right now I'm in probably the best shape I've ever been in. We say that every time we come back, but this time I've dropped weight, probably five or six kgs," he said.
"I was already pretty lean and pretty quick, but with the training that we've been doing, working on aerobic exercise, it's improved that. It's pretty exciting to see the improvements, even though I already had good speed on me."
