If heavyweight contender Michael ‘The Bounty’ Hunter 18-1-1 (12) has his way, he will be fighting Joseph Parker 27-2 (21) later this year.
Parker returned to the ring for the first time in eight months on the weekend, knocking out Shawndell Winters in five rounds at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas on Saturday night.
But the stunning finish to the fight by the 28-year-old New Zealander wasn’t enough to impress Team Hunter.
“Parker is an easy opponent for us,” Hunter’s manager Martin Mikolajczak told Sky Sports. “Parker is slow on his feet and his cardio is terrible.
“Michael would definitely KO Parker.”
Former WBO champion Parker only two defeats came against Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte in 2018. Both losses were on points.
“Whyte and AJ are completely different fighters to Michael,” Mikolajczak warned.
After knocking out Winters last weekend, Parker had his own list of names to call out.
“I want to keep busy and get hopefully two more fights this year and finish off with a good bang at the end of the year,” he said.
“Listen, I want to fight Dereck Chisora. I was supposed to go and fight him. I pulled out, I wanted to reschedule, but he went off, fought someone else.
“I want to fight Dillian Whyte again. I want to fight everyone in the top five, or top 10 in the world. I want to get anyone and everyone.”
With Whyte scheduled to face Alexander Povetkin at London’s O2 on May 2 and Chisora widely tipped to face Oleksandr Usyk next up, Parker and Hunter are both without dance partners.
The fight would seem a natural with both Hunter and Parker promoted by Eddie Hearn and both boxers looking to put themselves in line for another world title shot.
WBO number two ranked Parker said he would also consider a fight with WBO number five Daniel Dubois, providing there was enough on the line.
“He’s up and coming and there’s no doubt he’s got a lot of power,” Parker said to Sky Sports about Dubois, who faces Joe Joyce at The O2 in April.
“I guess if we’re in a situation where we have to fight him for a mandatory, I’d love to fight him.”
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