Jackpot City's Exclusive Interview With Joseph Parker

Fans of the popular online pokie game Money Mayweather, this is for you!

Joseph Parker has given Tyson Fury a time limit to prove he can beat Oleksandr Usyk based on what the Ukrainian told the New Zealand boxing star about his plans to retire.

In an exclusive interview with Jackpot City Casino, the Auckland-born heavyweight revealed that Usyk had already told him that he plans to fight twice more before calling it a day, with Fury already making moves to try and claim his next bout once he’s done with Daniel Dubois.

Parker wants the winner of that fight, which could put him in conflict with Fury’s hopes of making his trilogy fight with Usyk happen.

In a wide-ranging chat about the sport in general and the other key fights on the calendar, the 33-year-old also spoke about Jake Paul’s future as a boxer, Moses Itauma’s fight with Dillian Whyte and Jai Opetaia’s backing of Sonny Bill Williams and Dan Hooker’s backyard fights.

Read the full interview below.

Usyk told me he will have two more fights then retire.

I was in Italy for the bare knuckle fights and I saw Usyk at the event. I just walked up to him and had a chat. I said, ‘how are you? Good to see you. You’re a good champion and hopefully I can fight you one day and test myself against the best’.

When I spoke to him he said he's got two fights left. His last fights will be Daniel Dubois and someone else, whether it's Tyson Fury if he comes back, or whether it's AJ, or it could be me.

I am ‘not a priority’ because i’m from a smaller nation.

We're not a priority. There are the bigger names out there in England and America, mostly on that side of the world. There are fighters who are more priority and have more of a following.

And probably those fights make better sense for the promoters. My ranking is good, and we're getting some great victories, but I'm from New Zealand and there’s five million people from Samoa, which is far away from what's happening over there. That's how I feel.

I would have loved to have kept busy and have three or four fights a year.  But the way that it's looking, it's very hard to make fights happen.

The inactivity does play a little bit in your mind, because activity is key, so it's quite frustrating, but I think what I'm doing now is just controlling what I can control.

And that's doing what I'm doing right now in New Zealand, with George Lockhart; training, eating, resting, and building for when the fight does come.

I turned down the opportunity to fight Dave Allen, I’m chasing titles.

No, Dave Allen does not represent the type of fight I want at this stage in my career.  Dave Allen has done well with the fight that he did with Johnny Fisher.

The first fight many people thought he won, but in the second fight he got a good victory and a good knockout, but I'm chasing titles.

I want to be world champion of the world, so a fight with Dave Allen is not really on my radar, but it was offered to me.

I will not fight Derek Chisora, he wants a title shot.

Derek Chisora has been in this game for a long time and he was a name that we spoke about as well, but he wants to fight for the championship of the world, so I think that sort of rules it out. I think he's just been patient as well, and waiting.

I back Tyson Fury to retire and become a trainer.

When I was in the gym with Tyson training, he would always give advice to those who came into the gym to spar or to train, so I feel like he's got a lot of knowledge to pass on being a world unified champion.

I think he can [become a trainer] if he's passionate about it. He should do it because there's a lot of kids out there who need good guidance and good help.

The defeat I most want to avenge is Anthony Joshua, i’d take that fight with both hands.

I would most like to avenge the AJ fight because back in 2018 I was a very different fighter to the fighter I am now, and AJ is a different fighter as well.

He's been the poster boy for boxing and he's brought a lot of attention to boxing, and I'd like to avenge that loss. I would love the opportunity to fight Joshua.

I think he's had some surgery, and he's looking to come back again, so if that opportunity arises, I'll take it with both hands, and it'll be a great fight.

If he's still motivated and passionate about boxing, he should keep going. If that's what he wants to do. He's still got a lot to give.

Jake Paul is the ‘world champion of clout’.

Jake Paul is the champion of calling people out. I think he's a world champion of clout. He's a champion of making noise, whether you like it or not, everyone's commenting and tuning in.

He is improving, getting better each time, but Joshua is a step too far. AJ’s knockout power would make it a very, very dangerous fight.

Jake Paul has been world ranked because he’s famous.

Respect to him for the world ranking, he believes in himself, and he's chasing what he wants to chase. Does he deserve to be in there? That’s a tricky one.

Because he's famous and because he's got a big name, he's got into position a lot easier than fighters who have worked all their lives.

Deontay Wilder ‘does not know when to call it quits’.

Deontay Wilder’s performance was wild. Wild Wilder. He got the guy out of there. But maybe it's just ring rust. He hasn't been in the ring for a long time.

Hopefully this will help him get back on his feet and get a bit better and slicker but I think he's got a lot to work on.

I don't think fighters know when to call it quits. I think fighters will continue to fight, because that's all they know, and that's all they want to do. They love the challenge, they love the training, they love the lifestyle, but It's really up to him.

Jai Opetaia will help Sonny Bill Williams prevail over Paul Gallen.

Paul Gallen and Sonny Bill is a big fight because they're both big stars on this side of the world, and they're both big names, and it's a fight that's been talked about for a long time.

Sonny went from Rugby League to Rugby Union to boxing. He wants to prove that he's still got what it takes to be a great athlete or a good fighter, and he's training with Jai Opetaia.

He will gain a lot from having Jai in his team.  He will gain Jai’s attitude that he has going into fights, he can also gain confidence from having him. But on fight night it's really up to Sonny how he's going to perform.

Gallen is a strong man, rough and tough, and comes forward, throws haymakers and bombs. It's an interesting fight to watch and see how it plays out, whether Gallen's going to get on top of him, or is Sonny going to be able to box and move and then pick his shots. I want Sonny to win and I believe he can.

Dan Hooker’s backyard fights is ‘giving opportunities to those who need it’.

I think Dan Hooker is trying to give the opportunity to the fighters on the streets. To give them the opportunity to come together and fight in a professional way, and also there’s a big prize at stake.

I think Dan’s just keeping his time occupied by doing things that he loves, and he loves to fight, and he loves to watch fights, and I think he's doing part two now, women this time.

Keep going, brother, keep giving opportunities to those who need it and want it.

I was exchanging ‘hard shots’ with Jon Jones in sparring, Jones v Jake Paul is a big fight.

Jon Jones can definitely return in the boxing ring if he wants to because I did a bit of sparring with him and he's got good reach, good height, and he's got very good coordination.

His boxing wasn't too bad at all and in his last fight he caught Stipe with a lot of jabs and a lot of right hands, so he can make the move if he wants to. He can make some noise in boxing.

I was able to give him a bit of advice on what I thought he should be working on, and it got to the point where we're throwing some hard shots.  We were throwing hard shots and exchanging. It was good fun.

I would like to see Jon in the boxing ring. He wants whatever he wants being a legend like that and having a massive following, I think he can do whatever he wants.

Jake. Paul's got a massive following. Jonn Jones got a massive following. That'll be a big fight.

Moses Itauma will conquer Dillian Whyte with ‘special’ performance.

Whyte just took the fight with Moses because he got offered a big chunk of cash and the fight with us didn't materialize because he chose the Moses fight instead.

If he's getting paid big money, then good on him, because he's been in the game for a long time, and it's a big, tough fight for him.

A lot of people are calling Dillian a stepping stone, but a lot of people are calling it a tough challenge, you can't write Dillian off but he's been very inactive.

Whereas Moses has been very active and knocking out guys. I know people are saying he hasn't fought anyone with a name, but this is his opportunity now.

I feel with Moses [beats him on] on his athleticism and because he’s young and he's on the rise. I feel like he's going to show something different and something special.

It'll be similar to the last fight where Daniel comes out firing and he comes out chasing him down, but then Usyk begins to break him down in the middle rounds.

Daniel Dubois can beat Usyk if he does not ‘break’ like last time.

Usyk will start putting on the pace, and it depends if Daniel can keep up with the pace. Usyk just has an engine, and he has movements for days, and feints, and he can confuse you.

Usyk will get on top in the later rounds, but it’s 60-40 in favour of Usyk, it will be pretty close.

I think for Daniel it’s all mental.

He has to stay in it and believe in himself and back himself, and believe in the work that he's done and take all of that and use it as confidence that he won't break.

Because in the last fight he got hit with a jab and he stayed down. He has to overcome that challenge that he faced last time.

I want the winner of Dubois and Usyk.

What I would like to happen is, whoever wins the fight, I will fight them next. I want to fight for the undisputed championship of the world.

That'll be a dream that I have worked very hard for.  Potentially it can happen depending on what happens and how it unfolds with Dubois and Usyk.

I haven't really been promised or told anything,  but  I'm waiting for the result of this fight. And then I hope it's Usyk or Dubois or they might even offer me Agit Kabayell.

That’s a great fight but you just never know with this boxing. It's like up and down sideways, and you just have to be patient and wait for it to come.