Joseph Parker faces off against giant Alexander Dimitrenko ahead of their October 1 fight in Manukau.
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Dimitrenko represents a different challenge for Parker and one he needs to find answers to but the Russian is not one to talk a big game.
The German stands 8cm taller than Parker and has greater height and reach than IBF champion Anthony Joshua of Great Britain.
Unbeaten Joseph Parker’s team feel the fight the New Zealander is mandated to have, against reigning IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua, will nearly certainly come next year, not this year.
Trainer Kevin Barry said while Parker has proven he’s good enough to contest the title, it’s now a matter of trying to win it. “Joe has to keep improving because if we don’t we’re not going to beat Joshua”. “If you lose focus, that’s the fight you don’t get to”.
“Fighting a six foot seven guy, we need to reduce that height, we need to slow him down, we need to take the wind from his sails, and the way to do that is break him down to the body”.
“I am fast enough and those people can watch my fights”.
Whether it was done to accentuate his size is hard to ascertain but, if it was, they needn’t have bothered. When you look at [world champion] Tyson Fury, when you look at [former champion Wladimir] Klitschko, when you look at Joshua, these guys are all tall. The 34-year-old, who has been a professional since 2001, is a former junior world champion and has gone 11 rounds with the highly-ranked Kubrat Pulev.
Barry said Parker needs to learn to attack the body of his opponents more. “It gives me confidence. because when Kevin told me what to do, it worked”, he said. The fact we’re taking this fight on October 1st, there is a pretty fair assumption we’re not fighting Joshua in November.
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Parker’s promoters Duco Events will expect to enter negotiations with Joshua’s camp in November regarding their title fight.
