Kiwi heavyweight Joseph Parker knows the pressure is on to deliver in his next boxing fight later this year.
On Thursday, Duco Events confirmed Parker would make his return to the boxing ring at Christchurch's Horncastle Arena on December 15 in the 26-year-old's first fight in New Zealand in 18 months.
His opponent has not been confirmed, but Parker's promoter, David Higgins, said they were negotiating with three candidates and an announcement will be made in 7-10 days.
Parker has suffered back-to-back defeats in Britain this year, losing his WBO belt to Anthony Joshua in April and then landing on the wrong end of another decision against Dillian Whyte in July.
The two losses have seen Parker fall down the heavyweight rankings and on top of that, he hasn't recorded a knockout in his last five fights, with the last one coming against Alexander Dimitrenko in 2016.
With his record now at 24-2, Parker is determined to climb back up the rankings if he is to contend for a title again.
"There are lots of athletes or teams that go through ups or downs, and they're always going to have support and there will be those who doubt them," he told Newshub.
"We're trying to achieve this to make New Zealand and Samoa proud, and we want to be two-time world champion like the greats.
"We're trying to represent and hopefully everyone can get on board.
"We haven't had a knockout in a while, but I've been competing at the top level, so that’s good for us. Hopefully, we can lock in an opponent who will bring a big challenge and who wants to fight."
Higgins said he expected Parker to handle the pressure well.
"Joseph Parker knows better than anyone that he has to win this fight and win well.
"The pressure is more than ever, but Joseph and Kevin [Barry] are more than focussed. The public will rightly be looking for him to perform at his best and hopefully win by stoppage."
Parker will head to Las Vegas at the end of the week to begin preparations for the fight.
He is begun training for the fight, and insists he'll be in the best condition possible on December 15.
"Not having an opponent can be frustrating, but I'm happy we have a date.
"I've been trying to do a training session once a day. I think I'm in better shape than I was after the rest following the Joshua fight and the Whyte fight, so I'm excited to get back into camp and get into better shape.
"Hopefully, things go well here, and we can head back to the UK and US, and fight amongst the best in the world. We know we belong there.
"We just need to build ourselves up."
Newshub.
