October 10, 2025 • 11 mins
Joseph Parker admits he's wary of the latest heavyweight standing in the way of another shot at a world boxing belt.
The Kiwi faces big-hitting Brit Fabio Wardley in London in just over a fortnight, with a hopeful title fight against undisputed Ukrainian champion Oleksandr Usyk sometime early next year.
Parker says he's watched Wardley's last few fights, and he always finds a way to step it up and get the results, with 18 K-Os in his 19 wins.
But he told Piney that he feels like for this fight, Wardley’s stepped up a little too far.
“I do feel like with the experience that I have, I know he possesses power, but like I say to all the other fighters that I’ve fought, like, bring it on.”
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Joseph Parker is preparing for his next fight. He is
the current WBO Interim Heavyweight Champion. He'll face the WBA
Interim Champion, Fabio Wardley of the UK on Sunday, October
the twenty sixth, New Zealand time at the Two Arena
in London. It's live and exclusive on Dezonne. The winner
(00:34):
will earn the mandatory position to fight Alexander Yusik for
a shot at the undisputed World Heavyweight Championship. It is
Joseph Parker's first bout since he beat Martin Bacoli by
technical knockout TKO back in February.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
If you shot there for.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Parker, see Parker's going to stop load it up here,
otherwise he'll be the one Gusts shot you hurt on
Honey's down and I'm not sure he's gonna make this
count out him a curly just about he gets tracks,
(01:13):
Missy hat sight, John fucker, Joe's getting the job done.
Hoddy does it by stop it you lunch about Curley
halted for forty eight hours he gets.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Here, it's cready didn't deliver a long Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
That was Joseph Parker's last fight. He is with us
on Weekend Sport ahead of his next one. Joseph, thanks
for taking the time. If you win this next fight,
does that make a fight against Alexander Usik a certainty
for you?
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (01:45):
You know what, it's great to have this fight locked
in for betweeny five. As a fighter, you want to
fight as often as he can, right. And I had
to fight in February against Martin McCauley, and I thought
to myself, two or three months and I should have
enough fight locked in. And it's taken a while to
get this fight locked in. But I was waiting for
you sick, and I kept waiting, keep waiting, And I
said to my team, you know what, instead of waiting
(02:06):
for USI, let's just lock in the fight. I need
to get busy. Time is ticking and I want to
get active, and so surely the winner of this fight
should get the chance to fight Usick. I know Usik
is injured, and Usik's out at the moment and enjoying
family time. But if we can get the win over
this fight over favor Wardley, then they used to fight.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Is next? Surely it is.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Next, surely surely. As you say, though, it's just your
third fight since you beat Deontay Wilder in December twenty
twenty three, so that's coming up two years. Would you
ideally like to fight more often?
Speaker 4 (02:38):
I've made it. I've made it.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
I've made the team aware, management team, promotional team, everyone
involved in my team that I want to fight often
and I want to fight as many times as I can,
And unfortunately there hasn't been the case for me.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Fighting three to five times.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
A year would be fantastic, but I'm just not getting
those fights in an opportunities. So I'm not sure what
I need to do. I put up my hand. I've
said yes to every fighter have offered me. But finally
we have this fight locked in for October twenty five,
and hopefully with this fight and the win, we can
keep the ball rolling, keep it going.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
How much has your fight preparation changed throughout your career.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
I had eight years in Vegas, the tremendous eight years
of Kevin Barry becoming Champion of the world, defended against
Anthony Joshua unified it and I lost that fight, then
lost the instilling white, and then there's a time. There's
a time when I was in Vegas. No one's fault
by the time where I sort of lost the love
and passion for boxing. I'm not sure why. Maybe it
was just the same routine or I pushed harder and
(03:37):
it wasn't getting the results that I wanted. So I
may change, And I feel like I've learned so much
along the way. I've changed trainers, I've got a nutrition has,
I got to change conditioning train I've got a massage therapist,
and I have Right now, I can honestly say that
I have the best set up that I've ever had
in my whole entire life, in my whole career, and
I'm excited to show that once five time coming. But
(03:59):
we still got two and a half weeks to put
in work.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
When you say you lost your passion for it, was
there ever a point when you wondered whether you would
get it back?
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Yeah, I was thinking to myself, like it came a
point where I was just doing boxing just to do it,
and that's probably why I've had results where it wasn't
It wasn't the great results of getting the wins, but
it was like lack luster and it wasn't really exciting
to watch. And then now that I've found what I
feel like is the perfect preparations to a fight or
(04:30):
perfect camp, I love it. I love boxing. I've got
the passion for it. I wake up excited every single
day to train. I look forward to the meals that
we have because we're on a meal plan, and I
just can't wait to be in the best shape come
fight nighte.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
I love that in the three years since you lost
to Joe Joyce, You've had six more bouts, won them all,
they often say. Sports people have said this to me
a lot. You know, you learn a lot more from
your defeats than you do from your wins. What did
you learn from from that defeat? The most you know
was that, as I say, three years ago, what did
you learn from that?
Speaker 5 (05:02):
What I learned from that defeat. I learned many things
from defeat to Joe Joyce. The first one I learned
was don't ever fight if your health is not right.
Don't ever fight if you're not fit to fight. Secondly,
I started asking myself questions, what am I doing wrong?
I'm leaving my family and I'm traveling to England to
train for eight weeks at a time, leaving my wife
and kids at home. And how come I'm not getting
(05:23):
it right, you know, making these sacrifices. So then one
thing led to the next, and then I employed a
nutritionist and then worked on strength conditioning and actually, for
like right now, I got the best balance and so
from that fight, and even though you don't like losing fights,
but from that fight, I was able to make drastic
changes that I've seen be very beneficial in my career.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
The whole Daniel Dubois thing was weird, wasn't it. You know,
you're supposed to fight him back in February he pulled out,
like call up for Martin Bacoli. You one that easily?
How do you reflect back on that, you know, incident
in your career?
Speaker 4 (05:59):
You know what that I was very much looking forward.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
My goal a year before that was I am going
to chase the IVF championship the world, and that's the
goal I'm going to take right And we were right there,
We had it right there in our hands, right and
it got taken away from us two days before the fight.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Again, there's no one to blame.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
He got sick, and medical examiners talking him out of
the fight, and then Martin McAuley stepped in got that win,
but still I'm not satisfied. Like you know, dan In
Duois pulled out of that fight. They went to fight
U six for all the belts. So there's a lot
of things happening in boxing where even though you're getting
good results, and even though you're putting in the work
and you believe and you trust the process, but there's
(06:36):
so many other things against you, promoters.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Or the like.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
You know, promoters, if you're not a favorite, if you're
not one of the favorite fighters, and if you're not
a big name, they'd rather give opportunities to their own guys.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
So even though, so let's say.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
We're fighting against the opponent, we're fighting against sometimes the
promoted to fight against everyone. But you know what, we
will get there because I remained strong and I you know,
I trusted my ability and I just love what I'm doing.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Now, how do you match up against Abeo Wardley?
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Ah?
Speaker 5 (07:06):
He comes with power, He's he's gotten a lot of
experience along the way with the pressure of fight he's had,
and every time he's he has stepped up in levels,
He's been able to find a way to win. But
I feel like with this fight, he's stepped up a
level too far. You know, he is mandatory number one
in the WBA and I'm mandatory number number one interim
(07:28):
champion WBO. But I do feel like with the experience
that I have and I know he possesses power. But
like I say to all the other fighters that I've fought, like,
bring it on.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, eighteen of us nineteen wins by knockout. So does
it suit you to take the fight deeper? I mean
you hardly even knocked out, I think once maybe in
your whole career. Does it suit you to take it deep?
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (07:50):
You know what if I could get a knockout in
the first round, Oh, that'll be sensational, that'll.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Be listen, that'll be the best.
Speaker 5 (07:57):
But I know with this guy, I'm not underestimating him
in any sense, and I'm taking him so seriously that
I've done it like, I don't think there's any much
more that I could do in this camp. There's nothing
more that I could do to be as as prepared
as I'm going to be, And so I am. I'm
treating him like he he is the Yusak for me
because there's no point thinking about USIC or anyone else
(08:19):
if I don't get passed through favor ordly.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
And I was just checking. I mean, we've been watching
me fight professionally since twenty twelve. Man, it seems like
an awfully long time ago. And you know, I mean,
that's a that is a spectacularly long career. How different
a fighter are you now from the Joe Parker we
saw a fight for the first time in July of
twenty twelve.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
There, well, I don't even I don't even know where
to start in comparison like the fighter that I am now,
not even just the fighter, but the person now I'm
a father.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Like if I look back.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
At that younger like the younger person or the younger
my younger self, I wouldn't even know where to start
or what to say.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
What's you know? What I mean?
Speaker 5 (09:03):
So totally different, And I get at this very moment
in time, I love life.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
And they got the best. I got the best of
both worlds.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
I got my training team here, my coaches besides therapist,
camera man, training partners, spiring partners. But then I also
have my family living five or six minutes up the road.
And do you know what that brings me joy to
be able to see them every single day. After a
hard day, I just go to where they're staying and
just see the kids, and they're so excited to see
me and I. Time goes so fast, not only in
(09:33):
boxing career, but in life, so you got to make
the most of every single day.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Sounds like you're in a brilliant place, Joseph. Chet's good
to get the chance to catch up made. These next
two weeks can't fly by quick enough, I'm sure for
you and for us as we get forward to get
rid of to watch you fight. Fabia Wardley, thanks for
logging and make great to chat and all the best.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Thank you, thank you very much, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Thank you, no, thank you for joining us, Joseph. Joseph
Parker there from his training base in the UK ahead
of his next fight, which is two weeks away. The
morning here in New Zealand of Sunday, October twenty sixth
of that label weekend Sunday morning estimated ring walkers around
nine to forty five am New Zealand type, so it's
fairly civilized time to watch Joseph Parker's next fight live
(10:15):
and exclusive on Dezone up against Fabio Wardley. Look, I
don't know. I've sort of given up trying to work
out how boxing works. It's not as straightforward as you
could tell from Joseph Parker there that the winner of
this fight will definitely fight Alexander. You you sick. It doesn't
seem to work that way. Even though you hear that,
(10:36):
you know the winner will get the mandatory position to
fight him. That sounds pretty official, doesn't it. But look,
like I say, I've given up trying to work out
whether whether that will actually happen. I guess all we
do know is that Joseph is fighting Fairbea Wardley in
a couple of weeks, and if he wins that it'd
have to be near the front of the queue. Wouldn't
(10:59):
he near the front of the queue. So yeah, we
look forward to that coming up.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk set B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Joseph Parker is preparing for his next fight. He is
the current WBO Interim Heavyweight Champion. He'll face the WBA
Interim Champion, Fabio Wardley of the UK on Sunday, October
the twenty sixth, New Zealand time at the Two Arena
in London. It's live and exclusive on Dezonne. The winner
(00:34):
will earn the mandatory position to fight Alexander Yusik for
a shot at the undisputed World Heavyweight Championship. It is
Joseph Parker's first bout since he beat Martin Bacoli by
technical knockout TKO back in February.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
If you shot there for.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Parker, see Parker's going to stop load it up here,
otherwise he'll be the one Gusts shot you hurt on
Honey's down and I'm not sure he's gonna make this
count out him a curly just about he gets tracks,
(01:13):
Missy hat sight, John fucker, Joe's getting the job done.
Hoddy does it by stop it you lunch about Curley
halted for forty eight hours he gets.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Here, it's cready didn't deliver a long Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
That was Joseph Parker's last fight. He is with us
on Weekend Sport ahead of his next one. Joseph, thanks
for taking the time. If you win this next fight,
does that make a fight against Alexander Usik a certainty
for you?
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (01:45):
You know what, it's great to have this fight locked
in for betweeny five. As a fighter, you want to
fight as often as he can, right. And I had
to fight in February against Martin McCauley, and I thought
to myself, two or three months and I should have
enough fight locked in. And it's taken a while to
get this fight locked in. But I was waiting for
you sick, and I kept waiting, keep waiting, And I
said to my team, you know what, instead of waiting
(02:06):
for USI, let's just lock in the fight. I need
to get busy. Time is ticking and I want to
get active, and so surely the winner of this fight
should get the chance to fight Usick. I know Usik
is injured, and Usik's out at the moment and enjoying
family time. But if we can get the win over
this fight over favor Wardley, then they used to fight.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Is next? Surely it is.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Next, surely surely. As you say, though, it's just your
third fight since you beat Deontay Wilder in December twenty
twenty three, so that's coming up two years. Would you
ideally like to fight more often?
Speaker 4 (02:38):
I've made it. I've made it.
Speaker 5 (02:40):
I've made the team aware, management team, promotional team, everyone
involved in my team that I want to fight often
and I want to fight as many times as I can,
And unfortunately there hasn't been the case for me.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Fighting three to five times.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
A year would be fantastic, but I'm just not getting
those fights in an opportunities. So I'm not sure what
I need to do. I put up my hand. I've
said yes to every fighter have offered me. But finally
we have this fight locked in for October twenty five,
and hopefully with this fight and the win, we can
keep the ball rolling, keep it going.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
How much has your fight preparation changed throughout your career.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
I had eight years in Vegas, the tremendous eight years
of Kevin Barry becoming Champion of the world, defended against
Anthony Joshua unified it and I lost that fight, then
lost the instilling white, and then there's a time. There's
a time when I was in Vegas. No one's fault
by the time where I sort of lost the love
and passion for boxing. I'm not sure why. Maybe it
was just the same routine or I pushed harder and
(03:37):
it wasn't getting the results that I wanted. So I
may change, And I feel like I've learned so much
along the way. I've changed trainers, I've got a nutrition has,
I got to change conditioning train I've got a massage therapist,
and I have Right now, I can honestly say that
I have the best set up that I've ever had
in my whole entire life, in my whole career, and
I'm excited to show that once five time coming. But
(03:59):
we still got two and a half weeks to put
in work.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
When you say you lost your passion for it, was
there ever a point when you wondered whether you would
get it back?
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Yeah, I was thinking to myself, like it came a
point where I was just doing boxing just to do it,
and that's probably why I've had results where it wasn't
It wasn't the great results of getting the wins, but
it was like lack luster and it wasn't really exciting
to watch. And then now that I've found what I
feel like is the perfect preparations to a fight or
(04:30):
perfect camp, I love it. I love boxing. I've got
the passion for it. I wake up excited every single
day to train. I look forward to the meals that
we have because we're on a meal plan, and I
just can't wait to be in the best shape come
fight nighte.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
I love that in the three years since you lost
to Joe Joyce, You've had six more bouts, won them all,
they often say. Sports people have said this to me
a lot. You know, you learn a lot more from
your defeats than you do from your wins. What did
you learn from from that defeat? The most you know
was that, as I say, three years ago, what did
you learn from that?
Speaker 5 (05:02):
What I learned from that defeat. I learned many things
from defeat to Joe Joyce. The first one I learned
was don't ever fight if your health is not right.
Don't ever fight if you're not fit to fight. Secondly,
I started asking myself questions, what am I doing wrong?
I'm leaving my family and I'm traveling to England to
train for eight weeks at a time, leaving my wife
and kids at home. And how come I'm not getting
(05:23):
it right, you know, making these sacrifices. So then one
thing led to the next, and then I employed a
nutritionist and then worked on strength conditioning and actually, for
like right now, I got the best balance and so
from that fight, and even though you don't like losing fights,
but from that fight, I was able to make drastic
changes that I've seen be very beneficial in my career.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
The whole Daniel Dubois thing was weird, wasn't it. You know,
you're supposed to fight him back in February he pulled out,
like call up for Martin Bacoli. You one that easily?
How do you reflect back on that, you know, incident
in your career?
Speaker 4 (05:59):
You know what that I was very much looking forward.
Speaker 5 (06:02):
My goal a year before that was I am going
to chase the IVF championship the world, and that's the
goal I'm going to take right And we were right there,
We had it right there in our hands, right and
it got taken away from us two days before the fight.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Again, there's no one to blame.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
He got sick, and medical examiners talking him out of
the fight, and then Martin McAuley stepped in got that win,
but still I'm not satisfied. Like you know, dan In
Duois pulled out of that fight. They went to fight
U six for all the belts. So there's a lot
of things happening in boxing where even though you're getting
good results, and even though you're putting in the work
and you believe and you trust the process, but there's
(06:36):
so many other things against you, promoters.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Or the like.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
You know, promoters, if you're not a favorite, if you're
not one of the favorite fighters, and if you're not
a big name, they'd rather give opportunities to their own guys.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
So even though, so let's say.
Speaker 5 (06:50):
We're fighting against the opponent, we're fighting against sometimes the
promoted to fight against everyone. But you know what, we
will get there because I remained strong and I you know,
I trusted my ability and I just love what I'm doing.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Now, how do you match up against Abeo Wardley?
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Ah?
Speaker 5 (07:06):
He comes with power, He's he's gotten a lot of
experience along the way with the pressure of fight he's had,
and every time he's he has stepped up in levels,
He's been able to find a way to win. But
I feel like with this fight, he's stepped up a
level too far. You know, he is mandatory number one
in the WBA and I'm mandatory number number one interim
(07:28):
champion WBO. But I do feel like with the experience
that I have and I know he possesses power. But
like I say to all the other fighters that I've fought, like,
bring it on.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, eighteen of us nineteen wins by knockout. So does
it suit you to take the fight deeper? I mean
you hardly even knocked out, I think once maybe in
your whole career. Does it suit you to take it deep?
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (07:50):
You know what if I could get a knockout in
the first round, Oh, that'll be sensational, that'll.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Be listen, that'll be the best.
Speaker 5 (07:57):
But I know with this guy, I'm not underestimating him
in any sense, and I'm taking him so seriously that
I've done it like, I don't think there's any much
more that I could do in this camp. There's nothing
more that I could do to be as as prepared
as I'm going to be, And so I am. I'm
treating him like he he is the Yusak for me
because there's no point thinking about USIC or anyone else
(08:19):
if I don't get passed through favor ordly.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
And I was just checking. I mean, we've been watching
me fight professionally since twenty twelve. Man, it seems like
an awfully long time ago. And you know, I mean,
that's a that is a spectacularly long career. How different
a fighter are you now from the Joe Parker we
saw a fight for the first time in July of
twenty twelve.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
There, well, I don't even I don't even know where
to start in comparison like the fighter that I am now,
not even just the fighter, but the person now I'm
a father.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Like if I look back.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
At that younger like the younger person or the younger
my younger self, I wouldn't even know where to start
or what to say.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
What's you know? What I mean?
Speaker 5 (09:03):
So totally different, And I get at this very moment
in time, I love life.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
And they got the best. I got the best of
both worlds.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
I got my training team here, my coaches besides therapist,
camera man, training partners, spiring partners. But then I also
have my family living five or six minutes up the road.
And do you know what that brings me joy to
be able to see them every single day. After a
hard day, I just go to where they're staying and
just see the kids, and they're so excited to see
me and I. Time goes so fast, not only in
(09:33):
boxing career, but in life, so you got to make
the most of every single day.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Sounds like you're in a brilliant place, Joseph. Chet's good
to get the chance to catch up made. These next
two weeks can't fly by quick enough, I'm sure for
you and for us as we get forward to get
rid of to watch you fight. Fabia Wardley, thanks for
logging and make great to chat and all the best.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Thank you, thank you very much, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Thank you, no, thank you for joining us, Joseph. Joseph
Parker there from his training base in the UK ahead
of his next fight, which is two weeks away. The
morning here in New Zealand of Sunday, October twenty sixth
of that label weekend Sunday morning estimated ring walkers around
nine to forty five am New Zealand type, so it's
fairly civilized time to watch Joseph Parker's next fight live
(10:15):
and exclusive on Dezone up against Fabio Wardley. Look, I
don't know. I've sort of given up trying to work
out how boxing works. It's not as straightforward as you
could tell from Joseph Parker there that the winner of
this fight will definitely fight Alexander. You you sick. It doesn't
seem to work that way. Even though you hear that,
(10:36):
you know the winner will get the mandatory position to
fight him. That sounds pretty official, doesn't it. But look,
like I say, I've given up trying to work out
whether whether that will actually happen. I guess all we
do know is that Joseph is fighting Fairbea Wardley in
a couple of weeks, and if he wins that it'd
have to be near the front of the queue. Wouldn't
(10:59):
he near the front of the queue. So yeah, we
look forward to that coming up.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk set B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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