With Joseph Parker set to face Derek Chisora on May 1, Parker manager David Higgins is fully confident of success for his man, telling Sky Sports that while they respect Chisora’s danger, he sees the British veteran retiring after losing the fight:
“Provided that Joseph Parker does not make a silly mistake, and executes his game-plan, then I see him retiring Derek Chisora. … This is a fight where if Joseph wins, he’s got a genuine second world title shot right in front of him. Eddie Hearn has confirmed that. Maybe against Usyk, whoever, it doesn’t matter. The winner will be on a world title shot, I’d say within a year, and the loser will be on the scrap heap.”
Higgins reiterated that if Chisora loses, he thinks he’ll “probably retire,” but also admits that if Parker loses this fight, “he’s got to ask some really hard questions, whether he is in the top echelon and should continue his career.”
Now, look, this is all pretty dramatic of Higgins, in my view. Sure, Chisora is 37 and has sort of been at the same level a long time, has 10 losses, but always brings a fight and is fairly popular. Frankly I think he’d probably continue on a bit longer. As for Parker, he’s 29 years old and having three losses isn’t the end of anyone’s boxing career unless they want it to be, this isn’t a video game. What’s he going to do the rest of his life? As a pro athlete he’s already going to retire from his profession far earlier than the average person no matter when he goes, but at 29?
The fight will headline a DAZN and Sky Box Office card from Manchester, which also features Katie Taylor vs Natasha Jonas and returns for Dmitry Bivol and Chris Eubank Jr.