‘Laughed it off' – Joseph Parker reveals Usyk's reaction to face-to-face challenge rival opens door to Fury trilogy
JOSEPH PARKER has revealed he had a frank conversation with Oleksandr Usyk after meeting him at a recent bareknuckle boxing event.
The pair were in attendance at Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship's inaugural event in Italy in late April and had some of the best seats in the house for the Florence fisticuffs.
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Former WBO heavyweight king Parker saw a golden opportunity to try to convince the undefeated Usyk to share the ring with him before he calls time on his Hall-of-Fame career.
But the best heavyweight of the modern era cruelly dashed New Zealander's hopes of trading heavy leather with him with a James Bond villain-esque laugh.
Speaking exclusively to SunSport thanks to Casino Hawks, the 33-year-old Kiwi said: "I saw Uysk in Italy last week.
"And I walked up to him and said,' Hey, you got two fights left.
"'Why don't you fight Dubois and fight me?'
"He just laughed it off. He didn't really reply."
Parker's disappointment at missing out on the chance to share the ring with Usyk was compounded when the former two-weight undisputed champion opened the door to a trilogy fight with Tyson Fury.
[Anthony] Joshua for his last fight in his career.
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"Maybe he's looking for the bigger and sort of financial-making fights. I'm not quite sure."
Parker is in pole position to fight the winner of Usyk's rematch with Daniel Dubois at Wembley on July 19, which will be for all the heavyweight marbles, as he's he mandatory challenger for the WBO strap.
'Doesn't make sense' - Joseph Parker has theory for Daniel Dubois' last-minute withdrawal as Brit gears up to face Usyk
But he's refusing to put the cart before the horse, saying: "I know Frank Warren said a few things that I might be next to fight for undisputed unification.
"But there were no discussions. And for me, it's just words at the moment.
"It'd be nice to get something in writing and to get something solid.
"But at the moment, it's just words.
"If it can happen, I'll be extremely over the moon."
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