An Interview With Cruiserweight Nick Parpa

An Interview With Cruiserweight Nick Parpa

By Oliver McManus

Nick ‘Nightmare’ Parpa finds himself in the first title fight of his career this coming Saturday (July 6th) as he faces Daniel Mendes for the Southern Area cruiserweight title.

I caught up with him on Tuesday, four days before the fight, and he started off by telling me he felt the opportunity had come at a perfect time.

“I’ve had a fair few setbacks in my career due to injury so, on paper, you’d have expected me to fight for the Southern Area a little bit sooner but, actually, it’s the exact right time for me – it’ll be in my tenth fight so I’ve got rounds in the bag and, yeah, I think I’ve progressed at the right rate. It doesn’t feel that long (since his debut) because of the amount of time I’ve had where I simply couldn’t box, I couldn’t spar so the actual time I’ve spent in the gym training is probably closer to two years.”

Mendes, seven years the older gentleman, claimed the vacant title with a comfortable points victory over Danny Couzens in March this year. Fighting on the undercard, Parpa stopped Taha Mirhosseini in the second round and stuck around for some crucial research having already set his eyes on the to-be-crowned Champion.

“I stuck around for his fight and it was competitive from both sides but I think I’m a different kettle of fish in bringing a lot more than Danny Couzens. 100% I expect Daniel to take the same approach because he boxed to his strength – you know, he’s a mobile cruiserweight that likes to use the whole ring – and it paid off for him. I expect him to move a lot, like he did, and I expect to have to cut off the ring and look to tie him off but we’ve prepared for that, that’s not a problem.”

“I don’t think he likes a lot of pressure and he’s not fought anyone that cuts the ring off like I do so if I constantly apply the pressure and make sure he doesn’t have time to move around the ring then I expect to get to him in the later stages with a stoppage.”

Parpa went on to explain how training for that fight with Mirhosseini and this upcoming bout was interrupted by a mere three days off, a 14 week camp in essence, and that the southpaw sparring he’s had leaves him confident in “the tricks to nullify that threat”. Indeed the first southpaw that Parpa faced lasted a mere two minutes – an ominous omen, perhaps.

“Geoffrey Cave was the first southpaw I faced and Daniel Mendes has beaten him, too, but that was a really good fight for me. We were told he was an orthodox fighter and the first thing I knew about him being southpaw was when we got in the ring and it didn’t give me any time to get the jitters about facing that first southpaw. In that fight it showed me that I can adapt, even though it probably didn’t look like it, and that gives me a lot of confidence.”

Confidence that has been flowing throughout the “rebuild” phase of his career, following a loss to Vasil Ducar in 2017, with four victories setting the Palmers Green fighter up nicely. Two of those wins came early, both in the second round, but Parpa explained knockouts are simply a temporary high.

“When you get stoppages it gives you confidence knowing you’ve got a punch but that’s temporary whereas going the distance, especially against a decent fighter, and having to change the game plan tells you that you’ve got a decent engine and that you’ve been in a really good fight; that’s more long-term confidence.”

The loss to Ducar came as a result of a flash right hook catching Parpa, trained by Joshua Burnham, unawares. Ducar, at the time 1-0, has subsequently gone on to face (IBO champion) Kevin Lerena and the nature of the loss combined with calibre of opponent leaves Parpa, oddly, feeling rejuvenated in the ring.

“That ‘0’ is a lot of pressure to maintain but it’s not everything in boxing, it’s glamourised, and my loss hasn’t held me back. Of course it was hard to deal with immediately after and it upset me more than anything but I had to rebuild and now I do fight with less weight on my shoulders. I know Daniel’s obviously lost in the past (to Charilaso Malichoudis in Macedonia) so he’s probably feeling the same which probably means the fight won’t be all that cagey. Perhaps if I hadn’t been beaten before I wouldn’t be finding myself with this opportunity now.”

What, then, can we expect from the man who modelled his style on Mike Tyson – “when I first started boxing I wasn’t sure what style would suit me so I just copied Tyson” – come Saturday night?

“I want to show that I’m more than just a brawler because, whilst it is nice to be known as someone who can punch, I am a professional boxer! I know I can do the rounds and I feel as though some people might be doubting that so there’s that point to prove but I also want to put on a show. If it’s someone’s first time watching me then I want them to come back for me and remember the name. I do feel as though perhaps I’ve been earmarked as just a puncher but no-one has seen the best of me, yet, and I’ll be classy on the night and just try to give something for everyone.”