Former WBO Heavyweight Champion Joseph Parker has settled into the Texas town where his next fight will take place.
Parker left his Las Vegas home training base for Frisco, Texas where he’ll take on Shawndell Winters on Sunday (NZT). This will be his first fight since an alleged spider bite stopped him from fighting Derek Chisora last year.
After getting himself familiar with Frisco, going for a 3-mile run, Parker has made himself familiar with Ford Centre, the venue for his first month in 9 months.
“Now that we’re here, everything is starting to get more excited. You’re always excited before, but once you get to the actual place where you’re going to fight there’s a different sort of feeling,” Parker says as he entered fight week.
Frisco, with a population of around 115,000 is on the outskirts of Dallas.
Ford Centre is part of the training facility of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. Parker is expecting a large crowd to turn out to the 12,000 seat stadium for the boxing event headlined by welterwieght fighters Mickey Garcia and Jessie Vargas.
As Parker begins his journey back to the top of the Heavyweight boxing mountain against Winters, he’s taken inspiration from his good mate Tyson Fury 7th round KO against Deontay Wilder, claiming the WBC Heavyweight title.
“I went to the fight the other night to watch Fury and Wilder and after seeing what Fury did in the ring it sort of gave me a boost to come into my fight and see what I can do,” Parker says.
"I predicted Tyson to win, because I always back the boxer.
"He [Fury] said to me that he wants me to go and you know, win the other world titles, so we can both run the division."
His fight with Winters is scheduled to begin around 2pm on Sunday afternoon (NZT).