White socks & 2pm breakfasts – inside Parker’s camp

Just a few things that Joseph Parker is doing to take on IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois include having breakfast at 14:00, wearing white socks to improve speed, and aiming for the jab.

When he takes on Briton Dubois on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the New Zealander hopes to become a two-time heavyweight champion.

The 33-year-old’s head coach Andy Lee spoke to the 5 Live Boxing with Steve Bunce podcast about the changes that have led to the run-of-form and that the 33-year-old is currently on a five-fight winning streak.

“Joe used to always wear black socks”, revealed Lee. “Manny (Emanuel Steward) always used to say wear white socks, white boots. You feel more quickly when you wear white boots.

Parker last wore black socks in a fight against Zhilei Zhang in his final fight in 2021, but he did so in a fight against Junior Fa that year, and he did it with both white socks and black boots.

Lee, who was trained by coaching great Steward as a fighter himself, joined Parker’s team after the Fa bout.

The Kiwi is the underdog against Dubois, who has won his last three fights by knockout.

Dubois, 27, is one win away from facing the Ukrainian once more in an unresolved fight after coming back from a heartbreaking defeat by Oleksandr Usyk in 2023.

Lee said the Londoner may be a big puncher, but his jab is his strongest weapon.

Lee remarked, “You have to make him uncertain and hesitant in throwing it, and you have to make him his biggest weakness.”

“That means stepping back from it, taking the range away, slipping inside, stepping outside and countering it, that’s where I think the fight will be won and lost.

Both Parker and Dubois’ careers have recovered from troubling setbacks.

Parker becomes the in-demand heavyweight after defeating Deontay Wilder and Zhang in 2024, along with Dubois, who defeated Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua.

For Parker, it has been a near seven-year quest to become a world champion again, having lost his WBO belt to Joshua in 2018.

The card is set for a friendly time for both the UK and US audiences because it will be his fourth fight in a row in Riyadh.

Parker’s nutritionist George Lockhart explained how the timings have a huge impact on preparation.

” We don’t go to bed till 5 or 6 in the morning, “he said.

” Parker doesn’t have breakfast until 2pm and that’s to get his circadian rhythm rocking and rolling. “

While they continue to tweak aspects of camp, Lee said they have” worked extremely hard “to iron out” bad habits “of Parker’s game and the biggest change has been to his boxer’s concentration.

He would take a lot of breaks in fights, physical and mental, and he would go through a round without being present, added Lee.