Parker retained his interim title with a second-round TKO of last-minute replacement Martin Bakolie in Riyadh in February, and made clear his desire to swap his interim belt for the full title by challenging the current holder of the strap, Oleksandr Usyk.
But, with Usyk eyeing IBF champion Daniel Dubois in a bid to become undisputed once again, it remains to be seen whether the WBO will allow the Ukrainian to follow that path, or whether they will enforce their championship conditions.
Parker currently finds himself in heavyweight limbo as he awaits the WBO’s decision on whether to strip Oleksandr Usyk for not facing him next. If that happens, he sees three potential opponents waiting for a shot at the vacated belt: England’s Fabio Wardley and Moses Itauma, plus Australian’s Justis Huni.
“Usyk has been ordered by the WBO to face the mandatory, which is myself,” he told FastSlots.
“But you never know what’s happening behind the scenes, whether they’re trying to let Usyk keep the belt in order to make the Dubois fight for the undisputed.
“The WBO has come out and said 30 days, and that’s counting down as we speak, but you just never know what’s happening in the back end, and what the powers that be could do.
“Our team’s doing the best they can – David Higgins and Spencer Brown. Behind the scenes we’re trying to do our part as well. We are doing our best in order to fight for the championship of the world.
“The way I’ve played it out in my head is that Usyk will probably fight for all the belts, except for the WBO. And if the WBO does become vacant, then I might have to fight whoever’s on the WBO list.
“There’s Justis Huni. There’s Moses Itauma. There’s Fabian Wardley. Any of these are a big possibility, because you never know if the WBO might say ‘Usyk, we have to strip you now, because you’re not fighting your mandatory.'”
Parker said he was impressed with what he saw from Wardley when he demolished Frazer Clarke in their Riyadh rematch, and also gave praise to Itauma, who has shown talent and ring smarts beyond his 20 years.
“Wardley looked very good in his last fight,” he said.
“He’s stepped up in terms of performance from the first fight to the second fight with Clarke. Moses is a big threat to any fighter – young, hungry, strong, fast.
“He’ll probably be the number one, ready for a big challenge. But you have Huni who’s very skilled. He throws a lot of shots, so all these three guys are tough fights.”
Parker seems to have the entire WBO heavyweight title picture well scouted, but if for some reason a title fight does not materialise, there’s another huge fight he also has a desire to take that won’t see world rankings or sanctioning bodies getting in the way of – a rematch with former champion Anthony Joshua.
“AJ is always going to be a big fight because he’s a massive draw, and I think it’s only AJ who can come off a loss to Danny Dubois in the way that he did lose, and still draw a massive crowd, because he’s got a big following.
“He’s been the poster boy for a long, long time, so he’s always going to have that pull. You are always going to make good money fighting AJ because again, he puts bums on seats, and he’s got the massive name.
“I would like to avenge the losses that I have, if I can’t fight for the championship of the world against Usyk or Dubois.
“I would like to fight Anthony Joshua, Joe Joyce or Dillian Whyte to avenge those losses. I feel like I’m a totally different fighter now.”
