Joseph Parker briefly showed another side of his personality when he confronted Shane Watson, a member of Joe Joyce’s team, after their press conference on Thursday.
The heavyweights will meet for the WBO “interim” belt on Saturday night in Manchester after long, drawn-out negotiations with many back and forths between the two sides.
Parker is often a very lighthearted and engaging individual, considered by many to be one of the nicest men in heavyweight boxing.
However, he’s ultimately a tough fighter at heart and proved that by taking Watson to task for comments he’s made in recent weeks.
Parker didn’t say exactly which remarks annoyed him, but Joyce’s junior COO SJAM was understandably surprised when he was suddenly confronted by the heavyweight.
Parker cut him off as Watson was giving an interview to Pro Boxing Fans.
“Why are you interrogating him?” the New Zealander asked from the back.
Watson reacted, “Ooh, here we go, here he is, Joseph Parker.”
At this point, Parker joined the interview and asked, “Why do you do interviews?”
Watson replied: “Part of the team, innit? Part of the team.
Parker pressed, “Are you? What work do you do?”
To which Watson replied: “Chief Operating Officer of SJAM.”
Parker then said, “Are you? For real? You talked a lot about c***.
Watson replied, “Yeah, we’ve all talked, haven’t we?”
Parker then continued to pressure Watson on the matter, resulting in an awkward standoff in which the heavyweight stared directly at the youngster, who understandably didn’t hold his gaze for very long before looking away.
To his credit though, Watson didn’t back down from his words.
At this point, Parker burst out laughing, shook his rival’s hand, and resumed his normal nice-guy persona.
“Listen, we’re just having fun,” Parker added before leaving.
“All fun and games,” added Watson.