By Peter Lampp

Joseph Parker's big boxing test will be going 12 rounds for the first time on Saturday night.

Parker is to fight "the Scorpion", German fighter Yakup Saglam,  in their heavyweight bout in Palmerston North.

Parker has had 13 fights as a professional, but mostly over 10 rounds.

He has been preparing for the fight to go all the way by training for six weeks in Las Vegas and two weeks in Florida.

"The way we have prepared we are prepared to go the distance," Parker said at Wednesday's press conference.

In training they work out for only 10 rounds.

"It gets pretty serious, worse than the fight sometimes.

"My fitness is there to go 12 rounds, so I'm ready."

Parker has been going hard with his Polish sparring partner of Nigerian origins, Izuagbe Ugonoh.

Parker's opponent, Saglam, might be aged 38 to Parker's 23, but the German fighter of Turkish origin looked trim when he fronted the media.

He is expected to plant himself in the middle of the ring on Saturday. "He has definitely got a lot of power; he looks like he can throw big bombs," Parker said. "He's not floating like a butterfly, but he is definitely staunch and we can tell he's in good shape."

The Parker camp have studied footage of the German and know they have to sharpen up Parker's defence which has sometimes slackened off in the past. The jab will come into play.

Saglam possesses more power than most of his previous opponents.

"An 80 percent knockout percentage is pretty big," Parker said.

He could see the amusing side of holding a press conference in a burger eatery, in deference to the fight sponsors. He said he will only be tempted to indulge himself in their products after the fight.

Belts, as in rankings, from two organisations, the WBO (World Boxing Organisation) and WBA (World Boxing Association), will be at stake on Saturday night.

The more regional titles Parker can collect the quicker he can shoot up the various organisations' rankings.

Saglam said he had sparred with world champion Wladimir Klitschko six years ago.

He claimed, through an interpreter, that after two days Klitschko "got scared and pulled out" because Saglam was too tough. But hey, this is showbusiness.

Saglam said he hadn't been there to make friends.

Most took that rhetoric with a grain of salt and Parker's trainer, Kevin Barry, side-stepped the issue, saying Klitschko had a lot of sparring partners, often six to eight.