If combat sports followed the tradition of Hollywood Roma and had meetings with fighters and trainers, the one between Joseph Parker, Novel Zealand and George Lockhart would represent the perfect foundation on which you can build.

Imagine that if you can, Parker in a library carrying a pile of books, say, architecture, but suddenly drops books when he goes to the reception. Now imagine Lockhart, seeing it on the other side of the room, helping Parker recover everything he dropped, and then looking at the title of a specific book and saying: “Yes, it’s good. But I know it’s even better. “

In brief, there was the beginning of a beginner relationship between Parker and Lockhart; Warrior and strength and condition coach. It was one built on acquaintance and common interest, yes, but it was finally built on disadvantage and need to support.

“For years I worked with MMA Fighters, and then I joined with Tyson Fury, and Joe is of course good friends with Tyson, so we had to sit and talk for a moment during the camps,” Lockhart said. “At that time I never worked with him personally, I just helped him cook and then” Django ” [Faiga Opelu] The fight appeared and Tyson had no fight, so I started working with Joe. I just did a nutrition for him and one day they entered the gym and I was stunned, seeing the lack of planning, structure, etc. They allow me to take over this aspect.

“This will be the first camp in which I managed to perform strength and condition, recovery and nutrition in one. Then I work closely with Andy [Lee, Parker’s boxing coach]That everything is connected and makes sense. You are not just a sparring on random days – everything is prepared and ready. The food that eats them for sparring will be different from food, which it eats for one day when pads are made. Knowing all these things and knowing what is coming, I can prepare Joe for this and keep his body to keep. We have check -ups, we have goals and this is a kind of conditioning that it needs for this kind of fight. If you are planning a 12-runder, he fought at a certain pace compared to [Daniel] Dubois, which comes out quickly, you need to raise your heart rate and be ready from the very beginning. “

For this reason, Parker, before sparring, warms up with extraordinary intensity and works quite before he even puts in the gloves and enters the ring. Before he does, it is so sultry, although it is a humid January morning, there is no need to wear a T -shirt. It seems to be ready. He is ready for Spar, he is ready to start quickly and is ready, more importantly, what Daniel Dubois will bring on February 22 in Saudi Arabia.

“Unlike the marathon in which you set and keep the pace, the box is not like that,” Lockhart explained. “It would be nice if it were so, but if someone comes out like a bale from hell, you never intend to recover.

“So what are we doing? We conduct a specific training that will escalate this heart rate, so it is used to it at a certain level. Each round of Andy has a plan: we do it for this round, for this round. Some rounds are more explosive, and some are more pace of work. You have to train properly. With Joe we began to sprinkles, raise the heart rate, and then we still have nine rounds. It sells. “

Considering the way Dubois decided to Anthony Joshua in September, it is not a surprise that Parker and his team expect Londonian to leave the blocks quickly on Saturday evening. However, this does not mean that they put on anything or that they will simply react to everything Dubois decides to do when the first bell rangs.

“Sometimes you can fight fire with fire, and sometimes you can apply it against your opponent,” said Andy Lee, Parker’s coach. “But you have to be ready for it. There is a difference between being ready and excessive and excited. It’s about being frigid and frigid. As long as you have eyes and you are tranquil, nothing can hit you. The repertoire of boxing blows is quite basic: stab, right cross, hook, hook, upper. There are no other blows in the box. So it’s not like he intends to go out and throw something or throw something that we’ve never seen before. Joe’s experience means that he has already seen it all. He sees everything that comes. He just has to remain tranquil, and if he [Dubois] He wants to start quickly, let him start quickly. Then you release the fire and start your own fire. “

Of course, few fighters were as frigid under the fire like Andy Lee. In fact, one of the most renowned wins in the Irish Southpaw-Purek John Jackson in the fifth round in 2014-he was at the moment when Jackson, after in the same round of pursuit of him, chased him after the end. It was then, like other warriors, they panicked, Lee kept his mastery and prepared his counterattack a hook, knowing that Jackson’s aggression and complacency could, if he detonated, act against him.

Parker can try something similar with Dubois on Saturday evening. Who knows We only know that the 33-year-old has never been better prepared, both for Dubois as an opponent and for fighting, a full stop. At his own discretion, he repaired everything that was previously broken and now enjoys the process of preparing for the fight.

“The structure is everything – said Lockhart. “You have a bucket of energy and regardless of whether it is a moving house or plays with children, you apply a bucket of energy. If these buckets become empty, you waste energy. Many guys go and do random trainings – today we will go – but they don’t know why. What are they working on? Which energy system are trying to improve? They just run to run and work on a pad to do the PAD work. If you do not work on biomechanics or one aspect of muscle strength, oxygen ability, you just waste energy.

“One of the first things I said Joe when we started cooperating in the fight with Django was that I was surprised, that he was a world champion with a lack of structure around him. He always had work ethics, all these guys have work ethics, but there is no structure in boxing. It was my goal to give him about a year and a half ago, and now we are here.

“Dubois is just a stepping stone. I do not look at his world champion. I look at him that he has become undisputed and breaking records in terms of how many times we defend him. “

For the trainer – whether he is a boxing trainer or a coach of strength and condition – there can be no better feeling than working with a student he listens. Perhaps the only better thing is to have a student who not only wants to listen, but also has both experience on his side and the desire to fix mistakes from the past.

“That’s all,” Lockhart said. “In my origin I worked with more world champions than anyone else. I worked with Conor the first time [McGregor]He knocked out Jose Aldo. When I worked with Holly Holm for the first time, she knocked out Ronda Rousey. I worked with Tyson for the first time, destroyed [Deontay] Wilder.

“You may have the best pedigree and the best statistics, but if they employ you, it means nothing. Are you going to listen and do exactly what I say? Some people make friends with you, but it’s like your girlfriend uses nutrition advice. You love them, but that doesn’t mean they are listening to you. Joe is my best friend. He is my brother. But at the end of the day, when it’s time to work, he listens to everything I say. He won’t eat it unless I give him him. In terms of training, sleep, everything. This makes my work very effortless, but then it also gives me the opportunity to say: “that’s where we’ll go there, that’s where we’ll get there.”

“We’re warming up here. When we started, it was 104 kg for Django’s fight. Yesterday [January 27]He reached up to 127 kg. It is huge. You see him today and he is paring like an average weight. It has this additional power and additional weight behind him. But unlike most people, they do not intend to leisurely down or leisurely down. It is swift and its condition is the best that has ever been. We have all aspects. “

Therefore, the soil has been broken and the scaffolding is now there. On Saturday, it is time for Joseph Parker to build.

Elliot Worsell is a boxing writer, whose line first appeared in a boxing magazine at the age of 17. Within 20 years he wrote for various publications, he worked as a press officer of two world heavyweight masters and won the first four BWAA (boxing Writers Association of America) prize. In addition to writing boxing, Worsell wrote about mixed martial arts for the magazine only fighters and UFC.com, and also worked as a publicist in the Ultimate Fighting (UFC) championships. He also wrote two non-fiction books, one of which, “Dog Rounds”, remained on the list on the British Sports Book Awards in 2018.