Joseph Parker

Both of his parents migrated to New Zealand from Samoa in the early 1980s.

His father Dempsey was named after world heavyweight champion American boxer Jack Dempsey.

Parker grew up in the large suburb of Māngere in Auckland, and attended Marcellin College in the suburb of Hillsborough.

At the age of three, he enjoyed jabbing into his father's palms and while he was still a young boy Dempsey gave him boxing gloves and a punching bag.

When he was ten years old, he joined the Papatoetoe Boxing Club to pursue and learn more about the sport.

He was trained by Grant Arkell and former boxer Manny Santos.

When Parker was growing up, he admired David Tua and Maselino Masoe who were from the same area as him.

Parker is the middle child; he has one older sister, Elizabeth, and a younger brother, John, who is currently a professional boxer.

Parker also comes from a religious family, belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Joseph Dennis Parker, OM (born 9 January 1992) is a New Zealand professional boxer.

He has held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) interim heavyweight title since March 2024.

Joseph Parker was born in South Auckland on 9 January 1992, to Dempsey and Sala Parker.

He is of predominantly Samoan descent, with his ancestry roots going back to the Faleula Village on the main island of Upolu where his mother hails from.

Having his first fight at the early age of twelve, Parker grew and progressed, winning the 2009 New Zealand Golden Gloves Tournament in Palmerston North.

He followed up with a second placing at the New Zealand Elite National Championships, losing to rival Junior Fa.

Parker started boxing internationally at sixteen years of age.

As an amateur, he represented New Zealand at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the super-heavyweight division, and narrowly missed qualification for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Parker had success during his 66-fight amateur career, becoming a two-time New Zealand amateur heavyweight champion in 2010 and 2011, as well as winning several amateur tournaments and scoring some notable wins on the international circuit.

His first international tournament was at the Commonwealth Boxing Championships in 2010 where he won silver.

Parker's first major event was the AIBA Youth World Championships in Azerbaijan.

He was looked after by the Australian National Team Management as his coach Grant Arkell could not afford to accompany him.

He was the sole representative of his country in the quarterfinals after he beat Turkey's Yusuf Açik to face the Pan-American champion Yuniel Castro Chavez from Cuba.

Parker won the bout on points, 8:1 to advance to the semifinals.

There he fought Croatia's Filip Hrgović.

They traded punches in a closely matched bout that saw the scores remain within one point of each other for most of the match.

In the end it was the Croatian who managed to gain the upper hand in the final round and push ahead to an 8:6 victory.

Despite leaving the ring nursing a nose injury, Parker won bronze.

Parker then travelled to Singapore, to compete at the Youth Olympics.

He won silver after defeating Jozsef Zsigmond in the semifinals.

He then proceeded to the final where he lost on points against Tony Yoka of France.

After what was a busy season for Parker, he finished the year featuring in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

The then 18-year-old beat Canadian Didier Bence 14:7 in a fiery contest, charging home late in the third and final round when it appeared the fight was slipping away.

Parker was down 7:5 on points when he landed a decisive right hand to Bence's head with one minute 15 seconds remaining.

It knocked the Canadian down and effectively ended the fight as Parker registered the last nine points.

Parker turned professional in July 2012 with Duco Events in Auckland, under the tutelage of Sir Bob Jones.

After defeating Andy Ruiz for the vacant WBO title, Parker became the first heavyweight boxer from either New Zealand or the Pacific Islands to win a major world championship.

As of January 2024, he is ranked as the world's fourth best active heavyweight by The Ring magazine, third by BoxRec and fourth best by TBRB.

During his reign as WBO champion, he reached a peak active heavyweight ranking of third by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.

Previously, he held the WBO heavyweight title from 2016 to 2018.

At regional level, he has held multiple heavyweight championships, including the WBO Oriental, Africa, and Oceania titles; as well as the PABA, OPBF, and New Zealand titles.