With Joseph Parker officially set to take on Fabio Wardley on Oct. 25, both fights sat down with talkSPORT to discuss their fight, the circumstances leading up to it, and their expectations for the even itself. Both Parker and Wardley plainly said they don’t need to do anything unnecessary to hype up their impending battle, as anyone who’s familiar with both knows full well what to expect in the ring. Check out some excerpts from both fighters below.
Wardley on the perception of his fight with Parker
“Since the fight was announced the general talk
is Joe is the obvious favorite and the general talk is — not that I’m coming into to lose at all — but I’m expected to lose because he’s more proven, more experience, been at world level before and this is my first step into that realm.
“But I think that’s been a running theme for I don’t know how many fights now…every time I seem to find a way to win. There’s many qualities it takes to be a world champion and maybe not doing things perfectly but finding a way to win is one of those as well.”
Parker on how he views his fight with Wardley
“I don’t see myself as the favorite. I’m treating this as my championship of the world fight. That’s how you should treat every fight. I’m taking this guy very seriously and I’ve been building way back in New Zealand and now I’m in Ireland, zoning in on what I have to do to prepare for what he brings.”
On any disappointment he feels about not fighting Usyk instead of Wardley
“No, no. I can just fight whoever’s in front of me and that’s what I can control. That fight will come down the line. If it does, great. If it doesn’t, so be it. But whoever is in front of me, that’s who I’m going to deal with.”
Parker on whether he believes Usyk is really injured, stalling their negotiations
“He looked injured when he was dancing [laughs]…What’s the injury? Back injury? Who knows. He deserves time off and when he does come back hopefully we can get it on down the line.”
Parker on immediately taking the Wardley fight instead of waiting for Usyk
“What’s the point of waiting? I’m not getting any younger. I need to fight, I need to keep busy, and I want to fight as often as I can so I’m very happy this fight is locked in.”
Wardley on what kind of fight we can expect
“I think from me it’s pretty obvious what you get. I’m drama and entertainment one way or the other. You can pick the first Frazer fight where it’s a 12-round war or you can pick the second Frazer fight where it’s a one-round blowout. Take your pick, it can be one or the other or anywhere in the middle.
“I think the perfect thing about this fight is that it doesn’t need all the la-di-da and all the selling and all the prancing around and tables flipping and kicking off at press conferences and all of that…This fight sells itself. You look at our styles, you look at how we approach fights and you just know when we get in the ring together you know that neither of us is going to be too keen about taking a back step. So it’s going to be fireworks, it’s going to be drama one way or another.”
