World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and his friend and occasional sparring partner Joseph Parker have agreed on a deal in which the New Zealander will step into the ring to fight Fury should Dillian Whyte pull out of Sunday’s title fight at Wembley.
Fury, who has been training alongside Parker at his Morecambe home, has always said he would never fight his friend, but he revealed after Thursday morning’s press conference in London promoting the Whyte showdown that Parker would replace the unpredictable Whyte if required.
Fury told IFL TV: “We’ve said, ‘It’s not personal, strictly business’. If this fight happens we’ve shook hands and agreed, we're gonna throw down.”
Parker’s manager David Higgins confirmed the agreement with 1News on Thursday morning.
Parker, the former WBO world heavyweight champion who lost controversially to Whyte in London in 2018, has been based in England for more than six months and has become increasingly close to Fury, the undefeated WBC world champion who shocked the boxing world several times during his trilogy series victory over former champion Deontay Wilder in the United States.
They have said they treat each other like brothers; a relationship which became stronger after Parker beat Fury’s cousin Hughie in Manchester in 2017.
A big part of Fury’s previous reluctance to fight Parker may have been the way in which he attempts to mentally destroy his opponents before getting in the ring, quite apart from what damage the 2.06m “Gypsy King” can inflict with his fists.
Fury, who has fought back from mental health problems since his breakthrough victory against Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, has become a master of psychological warfare, although his press conference with his English rival Whyte on Thursday was relatively benign.
Whyte, who hasn’t shown up for previous media commitments to promote this fight, which will take place in front of more than 94,000 people at the home of English football, is unlikely to be a no-show for the bout but the contingency plan highlights the magnitude of the occasion. The weigh-in on Saturday morning is the only remaining set piece ahead of the blockbuster clash.
British record
The crowd number at Wembley will create a British boxing record, but Parker fought, and lost to, Anthony Joshua in front of more than 80,000 people at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium in 2018.
Parker is looking for more fight opportunities in England and the USA since comprehensively beating Derek Chisora in Manchester in December in what was a vastly improved performance under new coach Andy Lee, Fury’s cousin.
Lee will be in Fury’s corner on Sunday, raising questions about his loyalties should a fight between Fury and Parker eventuate.
"I know we're close but I don't know why he won't fight me," Parker told an interviewer about Fury’s mindset in 2020. "He has just mentioned it many times that it's a fight he just doesn't want to have. And he wants to fight everyone else expect me. So, I'm not quite sure if I'll ever get the chance to fight him."
"He just says 'there's no point in fighting Joseph. I don't want to fight him. I'll never fight him'. And we just leave it like that."
Fury, 33, doubled down on his statement that he will retire after the Whyte fight despite the prospect of many lucrative bouts ahead, including another all-English showdown with Joshua.
"I'm happy to go back to Morecambe and be left alone,” he said on Thursday morning. “I'm gonna delete my Instagram, I'm getting away from being a 'star'. I want to be left alone to live my normal little life."
Photo file Caption: Joseph Parker