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A strong amateur career and training with former UFC competitor and current KSW heavyweight ruler Phil De Fries made opponents hesitant to step in against the promising Briton, meaning he was left to face whomever was willing to put pen to paper. Usually, that meant facing one of two types of opponents — weekend warriors happy to step in and test themselves or professional opponents unbothered by adding another loss to their already lopsided records.
Parkin consistently handled his business, swiftly, but it’s difficult to build an assessment of a fighter when they’re facing overmatched foes.
“I understand that everybody wants to be at the same place, so the hard fights, people said, ‘No,’” explained the Parkin, who was a reasonably sized underdog heading into his bout with Neves last summer. “It was always hard, and if you look at the people I’ve fought, their records aren’t the greatest, and that was the thing going into Contender Series: I was there to get beat — Eduardo was beating everybody and I was there with a good record, but hadn’t beaten people.
“But everyone that knew me knew I’m decent; it was just hard to get fights,” he added. “Then I’d train with Phil and Tom and I started to understand, ‘I’m good, I just need the opponents to show it.’
“I think I showed a little of it at the Contender Series, and Saturday people will see it.”
He blew through the previously unbeaten Neves, who has since rebounded and claimed the LFA heavyweight title, in under two minutes, and if the exploits of his main training partner De Fries and success garnered by Aspinall out of the chute are any indication, Parkin is another British heavyweight with the potential to make waves in the sport.
Not that he’s in any kind of rush to do so.
“I’ve never been in a rush; I’ve always trusted that it was going to happen, so I go one at a time,” said Parkin, shedding some light on his professional outlook. “I know Tom was in no rush, but then it all shot on him, so it depends on your results. Once you start like he was doing, beating guys quickly and consistently, it just goes, but I’m going to take every fight as it comes and see what happens.