WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (25-2 19 KOs) is ready to step up his ambitions to reclaim his world champion status. However, with all the top heavyweights currently preoccupied, Parker faces Alex Leapai (32-7-4 26 KOs) at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island on Saturday, live on DAZN in the US and on Sky Sports in the UK.

As you may recall, Parker handed current WBA/IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. his only career loss. “Andy’s got a great chin and so do I. We’re different fighters from 2016, he’s improved dramatically and we saw that in the performance, and I am a lot better than I was when we first fought back then.

“Everyone was leaning towards AJ getting an easy victory but we knew what Andy presented and what he brought to the fight, so it wasn’t a surprise to us, but we didn’t know he was going to stop him like that so it was a surprise in that sense, but we knew he had the ability to put in a great performance like that so congratulations to him and his team.

“I don’t know how the rematch is going to go which is why it’s so exciting and people will look forward to it because we don’t know how it will unfold. We’re not sure if AJ is going to come back and look better, box from the outside, or if Andy is going to come and put on more pressure and throw more punches, so I am excited to see it again.

“Andy has got the blueprint to beat him. I wouldn’t say exposed him, but you put pressure on, throw punches and combinations and you do your best to land, that’s what Andy did. I am a different fighter to Andy, he takes a punch to give a punch whereas I try my best to avoid punches, but he showed that it works and he took some to land a lot more.

“Tyson and I have a great relationship, he’s kind of like an older brother in the same division as me. From the time I was with him in Manchester in September 2017 until now, he’s completely changed physically and mentally, he’s a lot happier. You never say never when it comes to fighting anyone.”