Betway spoke with boxing nutritionist George Lockhart who discussed Joseph Parker’s condition ahead of his showdown with Zhilei Zhang next month.
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During the conversation, the food expert revealed that the heavyweight misses eating black pudding, while dark chocolate is something Parker eats just before sleep and he ‘passes out’ after it.
Parker’s sleeping routine
“Joseph will be fighting at about midnight or 1am Saudi time against Zhang so we have to switch training and everything else around that time. He doesn’t wake up until 1pm on the afternoon and then doesn’t go to bed until 5 in the morning so he has had to switch things up.
“With the change in temperature, it’s actually nice but we are mainly indoors training so it’s not a big thing. The biggest thing is monitoring his heart rate because it will naturally drop first couple of days of going to a new place and that’s why we had to come here for at least two weeks before to acclimatise to a new environment and get used to a new time. Even if it’s a two or three hours time change, you need to acclimatise. He was waking up at 7am in Ireland but now he’s waking up at 1pm in the afternoon.”
The food he is eating
“He is eating the same foods as normal but there is no black pudding out here, that’s something I was cooking a lot in Ireland. I give him salmon regularly, meats, chicken, he has three eggs and two potatoes in the morning, avocado and 8 ounces of chicken breast.
“The staple is a Greek yoghurt snack before working out with blackberries, blueberries and granola. He has his shakes for intermate and post workout. Magnesium helps him sleep at night so I give him manuka, dark chocolate chips and banana before he goes to bed and it helps him pass out.”
Parker is in great condition
“He’s looking great, every fight camp he is getting better and better. The way that he trains, we monitor everything from his heart rate to sleep and recovery, we track everything so he’s not getting burnt out. A lot of fighters fight back-to-back and activity is very good because ring rust is a real thing.
“With Joseph, he has been active, but he is resting enough and, in every fight, he is getting better and better. Not only aesthetically, but you will also see him leaner, and his performance will improve next month.”
Parker v Zhang prediction
“I never want to count on somebody’s weaknesses. You look at Deontay Wilder, he hadn’t fought more than one round in two years but when you start looking at that, you make false assumptions. I don’t think Deontay had ring rust or lost the dog in him, but I think the game plan for Joseph set by Andy Lee worked perfectly. He was out of range and Deontay couldn’t do anything.
“I don’t want to look at a weakness, but I think Zhang’s conditioning is his weakness. He’s gassed out during the later rounds and age doesn’t help with that.
“The conditioning is going to be a big factor in this fight, but the first five rounds will be a dog fight and then Joseph will start picking him off. If Joseph can stay away from Deontay’s right hand for 12 rounds, then I think he is a faster fighter than Zhang and will perform even better and put Zhang away.”
