LONDON – Usually by this point of a fight promotion, Joseph Parker would be desperate for Sunday to come.

Not just because the fight would be over, the result would be known and the weeks of exhaustive training would be a memory. But because it meant he could finally get on a plane and head home.

Parker, now a father of six, had grown accustomed to leaving his young family back in New Zealand while he toiled away in training camp on the other side of the world. Not only would he miss countless precious moments of fatherhood, but the huge time difference made the vast distance feel even more stark.

“Coming back and forth was tough,” Parker told The Ring. “Very tough. These are your kids, you want to see them every day. You’re constantly wondering what they are doing, how they are doing. Are they OK? Is everything OK back home? These are the questions on a constant loop and the thing about time is you can never get it back.”

But as he sits down with The Ring at a hotel just across the river from O2 Arena, where he will fight unbeaten Brit Fabio Wardley tonight in a DAZN Pay-Per-View main event, things are different.

Only a few days out from the clash, he is no longer craving the flight home to see his kids because they have spent training camp with him in Dublin. They are still kept at arm’s length for most of the hard yards he and his coach, Andy Lee, have done in preparation, but close enough to stop his mind from wandering.

“I think it’s a game-changer for me, really,” Parker said. “Having the ability to travel with your family is a blessing, right? I have the best set-up in Ireland; me and Andy do our training, we have the training team house and then my family stay six minutes up the road. Everything is close by.

“I think we have a great set-up, and it just makes the whole thing better for me, knowing they’re there, knowing they’re safe and getting to see the kids every day while I still do my work. It’s the best of both worlds.”

Perhaps it is no surprise, therefore, to note that the best run of form in Parker’s career has coincided with his decision to take his family with him. Parker (36-3, 24 KOs) has won six on the spin since he was stopped by Joe Joyce in Manchester in September 2022, a defeat which had even led to a few suggestions that he might be better off retiring.

Now, three years and one month down the line, Parker is one victory away from a shot at the undisputed heavyweight crown. And, as he approaches this pivotal fight with Wardley (19-0-1, 18 KOs), he feels different to the Parker of old.

“I’d be desperate to get back home just to see them,” he explained. “But now it’s fight week and I’m way more relaxed. I find I enjoy my work now and I look forward to it every day, knowing that we’re all there as a family, I’m a happy fighter. Time goes fast and the kids seem to grow up even faster, but we have all made Ireland our home and in the last 12 months we’ve been here three or four times now.”

Parker first teamed up with Lee back in 2021. The pair have emerged as one of the most formidable forces in world boxing since. As well as time spent training in Morecambe alongside the now-retired Tyson Fury, they have spent most of their relationship in Dublin, where Parker now feels like part of the furniture.

“Hello there,” Parker says in one of the worst Irish accents this writer has ever heard. “How are you? I love it over there. We have a great set-up. When I first turned up, we had a bit of support here and there, but now wherever we go there is so much support. Honestly, it’s crazy – to come from the other side of the world and still hear people cheering you on, supporting you and backing you, it’s incredible.”

Now the rest of the Parker family are starting to feel the love, too. Of his six children, the three eldest are starting to understand what it is exactly their father does to pay the bills.

“They come to the gym actually,” Parker said. “They hang out with me, with Andy and the rest of the team at the gym. They come and watch training, they run around and there’s another room next to the gym where they can hang out and have fun.

“Getting to see them in that environment, where I work, is amazing. I see them every day and then on Sundays we all have sushi Sunday together. The whole family, the whole team, we all just gather round and eat all the sushi there is, 60 pieces each, no problem.”

There have been a number of sushi Sundays in what has been a long and arduous camp for Parker in his first fight since he stopped Martin Bakole on February 22 at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Although he might not be counting down the minutes until he can head home this time, he is still looking forward to drawing a line under the Fabio Wardley chapter.

“After this one I’m still going home and having a holiday,” Parker says with one final smile. “But not Andy – he’s straight into another camp with someone else.”