Joyce vs Parker: The manager of the New Zealander cautions the referees overseeing Joseph Parker vs. Joe Joyce that they cannot allow another dispute to derail their heavyweight match on Saturday.
Parker, a former WBO world champion who resides in South Auckland but trains in Morecombe, has had success in Britain in the past. In the UK, he has defeated Hughie Fury and Dereck Chisora while falling short of victories over Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. But before his fight with Joyce at the Manchester Arena this weekend, his manager David Higgins is worried about the refereeing.
“We’ve had some officiating controversies in the UK. So each of Parker’s big fights here have been marred by terrible officiating on UK soil. Even the last one against Chisora, despite knocking Chisora down I think three times, one of the British judges nearly had it as a draw,” Higgins told Sky Sports.
In the match, Michael Alexander had scored 114-112, which was far closer than the New Zealander’s squad would have thought fair.
“It was outrageous,” Higgins continued. “We’re a little bit mindful [in] this fight against Joyce. Joyce is tough and durable and if there are close rounds, we’re looking to the judges to play straight bats and not let perception, bias or unconscious bias come into play. So we’re just hoping we can get a fair go on UK soil.
“When you put in the work and train hard, you have no worries going into fight night. There’s no doubt and you’re just full of confidence,” he said.
For boxing fight, boxing championship, boxing live score, boxing tournament, boxing ring, boxing match today and other boxing news follow livematchupdatesnews.com.
