New Zealand's world heavyweight boxing champion Joseph Parker trains in London with former world champion David Haye.
David Haye has defended Joseph Parker's claim to be a be a genuine world champion after meeting the Kiwi fighter in London.
Haye, a former world heavyweight champion, hosted Parker, the WBO world champion, at his state of the art London gym at the weekend.
The pair met by chance in a London street last Friday and spent four hours' together at the gym.
They had been consistently in touch through social media since early 2016 when Parker sought Haye's advice on how to beat Carlos Takam.
Haye, 36, has offered his gym for Parker to use free of charge when he returns to England to fight Hughie Fury in Manchester in September.
He clearly has respect for Parker, saying: "I've never felt the need to scream or shout or smack talk about Joseph Parker;
"I think he's a great fighter. When he was fighting Ruiz, and Carlos Takam and Dimitrenko I always watched with an eager eye. I always looked at him as a potential future opponent and obviously he's the heavyweight champion of the world
"One day we may step in the ring, I may challenge him for his titles, or I may win a version of the title and we may unify the titles together and if that happens the fight itself, sells itself."
Haye said boxing people "can't knock Joseph Parker for not beating a legitimate world champion for his title because all you have to do is look at the main man of the division Anthony Joshua".
"Who did he beat for his title? Charles Martin. Who did Charles Martin fight for the title? I can't remember. There was no real history to the title that Anthony Joshua fought for and the title he's just won, the WBA title which was vacant, he fought against Wladimir Klitschko, a very good Wladimir Klitschko, but let's not forget Wladimir Klitschko at that point was coming off a loss, a convincing loss and he hadn't been in the ring for over a year in a half.
"The people who are questioning Joseph Parker's credentials need to turn that 'all-knowing-light' on the other champions they're supporting."
Haye has offered to source sparring partners for Parker on his next visit to England and provide his own personal security team. He has also offered to arrange accommodation for Parker at the hotel Haye lives in by the River Thames.
"In the space of five minutes, he [Haye] sort of covered everything down to security, so we're just thankful that he was sort of pointing us in the right direction and he's going to look after us when we come back," Parker said.
The Aucklander said he was "beyond grateful" to Haye.
"He showed us around his gym, I haven't seen some of the things he showed us so its sort of good to try and incorporate those in our training camp and just great to hang out and have a great lunch with him. The whole team loved how he looked after us and I really enjoyed our time with him."
Haye won the WBA world heavyweight title in 2009 and lost a unification bout to Klitschko in 2011.
Photo: New Zealand's world heavyweight boxing champion Joseph Parker (R) trains in London with former world champion David Haye.