Parker is heartened by speculation that Dubois is overlooking him and focusing on a possible heavyweight title unification fight against Oleksandr Usyk, who remains the real world champion and is in possession of the three other belts: “Mmm, it’s good.
Last month Laine and their five kids surprised Parker by arriving in Dublin – as a way of bringing the family back together amid the grind of fight camp.
Parker is the most amiable man in boxing but his good mood, as the days tick down to his fight against the formidable Dubois, is not just because his family have been around him.
It’s a long drive from the heart of Dublin to the Ballybrack Boxing Club, where Parker has prepared for Dubois, and so I watch the video the fighter made last April.
Conviction pours from him as he says: “I feel a real belief going into this fight – not just because of those two wins but because George and I have been quietly working away since April, and Andy and I have done such great work the last three months.”.
