Joseph Parker, New Zealand professional heavyweight boxer, photographed at Muriwai Beach on Auckland's west coast. Photo by Brett Phibbs.
Joseph Parker, New Zealand professional heavyweight boxer, photographed at Muriwai Beach on Auckland's west coast. Photo by Brett Phibbs.
South Auckland boxer has two families backing his title chase
And on the seventh day, Joseph Parker gets to have bacon and eggs.
Which is a way of saying the young South Auckland boxer with increasingly credible designs on the world heavyweight title has no hope of doing things by halves.
Everything from Parker's diet - he was a hamburger junkie - to life education is being run, quite obsessively, by the one and only Kevin Barry.
Barry doesn't win every battle. After 17 gruelling training sessions a week, Parker enjoys a cooked breakfast on his day of rest. Barry wasn't even keen on that detour away from the oatmeal, fruit and vitamin drink but his wife, former New Zealand gymnast Tanya Moss, insisted.
"Kevin is the most driven man I know," says promoter Dean Lonergan, the ex-Kiwi forward turned impresario who is one of the most driven men I know.
"This is total immersion for Joseph -- he eats, sleeps and breathes boxing six days a week with Kevin."
Barry and Parker head back to their home in Las Vegas today, a week after the 23-year-old of Samoan heritage destroyed German Yakup Saglam in Palmerston North.
Parker's hand speed was stunning. Saglam looked like a leaf that had run into a tornado. It was Parker's 14th consecutive victory as a pro, his days of frustrated Olympic and Commonwealth Games ambitions distant memories.
Even boxing sceptics are holding their tongues when it comes to Joseph Parker. When we meet at an Auckland cafe, Parker proves very easy to like.
Brought up in Mangere East, but schooled with his cousins at Marcellin College across the Mangere bridge, boxing loomed large. His father, Dempsey, was named after the American boxing legend Jack Dempsey.
"My grandmother must have loved boxing and I think she just liked the name Dempsey," says Parker.
Boxing crazy Dempsey Parker never fought, but returned from a trip with gloves and pads for Joseph when he was 4. Game on.
"I grew up watching boxing videos and he started taking me to different gyms," says Parker.
Dempsey, a steel worker, and his wife Salavao, a social welfare worker, got into hock to fund their son's amateur career, which took him around the world.
Others such as trainer Grant Arkell, and businessman Bob Jones, chipped in. Young Joseph Parker had eight jobs, trying to help.
If his amateur career didn't bring the gold he hoped for, his professional career is zooming so fast that his handlers are prepared to talk wealthy retirement at 30. First things first, though, and time to introduce a controversial but vital part of the Parker story - David Tua.
There have been far too many boxers in the life of Barry - the 1984 Olympic silver medallist - to mention here, but one will always stand out for reasons good and bad. David Tua.
Their famous bonds which took Tua to a failed world title bid against Lennox Lewis in late 2000 ended in tatters and a draining legal battle.
When Lonergan - a long-time friend of Barry's - and David Higgins from Duco took over Parker's management, Barry was their man.
Joseph Parker, New Zealand professional heavyweight boxer, photographed at Muriwai Beach on Auckland's west coast. Photo by Brett Phibbs.
Lonergan said Barry's understanding of Pacific Island culture and the role of family, is essential. They also knew Parker faced too many distractions in Auckland.
Some of Parker's education is straight from the school of very hard knocks.
"David Tua and I grew and learnt a lot in 12 years together," says Barry.
"It was a massive lifestyle change for a young family-oriented Pacific Island boy moving to America then.
"It was very tough for him, especially as I had to go back to New Zealand and come back for the fights.
"David spent a lot of time alone and I remind Joseph of this every chance I get. There was no social media, no Skype.
"His prize money didn't even cover his phone bills then."
Tanya was concerned when her husband announced he was to train and mentor another Pacific Islands fighter, given the Tua history.
She scoffed when Barry suggested he would keep some distance this time, particularly as there is an unusual trend to Barry's life.
Barry's parents - his father was the renowned boxing trainer Kevin Snr - ran a social welfare home in Christchurch, meaning Kevin and his brother Bryan had a passing parade of surrogate brothers, 10 at a time.
It's a manner of open house living that has carried on. Tua, for instance, lived in four Barry homes.
The family's Las Vegas home, in a gated community not far from the strip, has a welcome mat out for boxers and friends of the Barry kids. Joseph Parker was destined to live there.
"Tanya knows if I'm in, I'm all in and also how damaged I was with the Tua relationship," says Barry.
"But I am now Joseph's teacher, friend, mentor, trainer, manager, life coach. I am sharing with Joseph a lifetime of experience I have in boxing."
It could have been a tough decision for Parker.
"The Samoan community had sympathy for David Tua and a lot thought it was a strange decision," says Parker.
"But that was someone else's life ... I knew Kevin had looked after a lot of champions.
"I have so much faith and trust in Kevin, the bonds we have. His wife is like a mum to me. His kids treat me like a brother."
Technically, Parker now fights like a big man, looking to "control the zone", his hips twisting for power, his strong chin no longer an inviting target. Earlier this year, Parker paid off his parents' mortgage.
"It was the best feeling in the world as a son. I can already see the difference in them, not having the financial stress," he says.
"They are at my fights and I fight for them. Growing up in Samoa, they never thought they would get to see the world the way they have."
With his family in Las Vegas providing a secure base, there should be a lot more of the world to see.
