Joe Joyce came in at 271 1.4 lbs and Joseph Parker at 255 1/4 lbs at Friday’s weigh-in for their title eliminator on Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
The 6’6″ Joyce (14-0, 13 KOs) will enjoy a 16 pound weight and a two inch height advantage over the 6’4″ Parker (30-2, 21 KOs).
It’s likely that Parker will use a lot of movement to avoid the pressure of Joyce because he doesn’t enjoy going to war with his opponents the way some heavyweights do.
Parker, 30, has won his last six fights against lower level opposition since losing consecutive fights to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte in 2018. Joyce is a huge step up in class from the fighters that Parker has been fighting in the last four years.
“Joe looks confident. When you’ve done the work as a fighter, you go into the fight with confidence,” said Joseph Parker to iFL TV about his reaction to Joe Joyce’s demeanor.
“He does look confident and ready to go. I’m ready to go as well. I’ve put in some great work in training with great sparring partners. I just keep working on things with Andy Lee.
“I’m looking forward to putting it on display. I just want to show improvements from my last fight [against Derek Chisora], and be better than my last fight and keep going upwards.
“It could be a great advantage for me,” said Parker about his experience. “Joyce has done great with his career so far. He’s undefeated, and he’s going to come with that undefeated buzz and confidence.
“With the experience that I’ve had, I know I can cause a lot of trouble for him with the style that I have. I have better speed and better movement, but I know it’s a tough challenge. I have to be on point on Saturday.
“It’s a different test,” said Parker when asked to compare his fight with Joyce with his 2018 contest against Anthony Joshua. “Joshua, at the time, was a champion with the height and reach, and he’d been knocking out everyone he fought. I was the first to take him the distance.
“It wasn’t the best fight, and it wasn’t the most entertaining. I wasn’t the most aggressive, but it was a good learning fight for me. At this point in my career, this is my toughest fight. This is a person in front of me in the rankings,” said Parker.
