Kevin Barry is preparing Joseph Parker to beat, not just challenge, Anthony Joshua for his IBF title.
Parker, the mandatory challenger to Joshua's world title, will first step into the ring with Ukrainian giant Alexander Dimitrenko on October 1 at the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau.
Alexander Dimitrenko (Reuters)
Dimitrenko, a towering fighter at 2.01m with a 38-2 record, will pose Parker plenty of questions, but trainer Barry believes it's a step that his 20-0 fighting prodigy needs to take if he's to beat someone in Joshua's mould.
"This is not just a big guy, this is a very skilled big guy," Barry said.
"The challenge for us is that our last three fights, Jason Bergman, Carlos Takam, Solomone Houmona, each of those guys were 6'2", this guy's is 6'7".
"Now five inches might not sound like a lot, but in the boxing ring, five inches is a massive amount of height difference."
Dimitrenko, 34, will have a nine-centimetre height advantage and 18-centimetre reach advantage over Parker.
A loss would strip Parker of his mandatory title challenge, but Barry added that risks are needed to be taken if Parker's to win the title.
Anthony Joshua (Photosport)
"We're not just waiting to fight Anthony Joshua, when we fight Anthony Joshua, we want to beat Anthony Joshua.
"The way we do that is by preparing in fights like this. Every fight from now on in there has to be a degree of risk, there has to be a challenge.
"Joe has to keep improving, because if we don't, we're not going to beat Joshua."
Parker is well-aware of the dangers of fighting Dimitrenko, but knows that the heavyweight division has its fair share of tall fighters.
"This fight just presents different challenges," Parker said on fighting his tallest opponent to date.
"I think it's important to get in there and test yourself against guys who are more experienced and bigger than you are."
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