Celebrity News

Boxing champion Joseph Parker welcomes a new baby daughter

But the new dad will have to wait a few days before he can meet his “blessing”.
Joseph Parker

Joseph Parker and Laine Tavita celebrated the arrival of their new baby daughter this week, although the heavyweight champion hasn’t had a chance to meet her, just yet.

Baby Elizabeth Ah-Sue Sala Parker was born last Monday, and both mum and baby are back home now and doing well, according to NZME.

Joseph, who is currently in Las Vegas to prepare for what will be the biggest fight of his career, said he was looking forward to seeing his daughter when he returns home.

“It would have been nice to have been there to see her when she arrived, but I’m pretty focused on the task ahead.

“It’s a blessing to have a daughter and I look forward to meeting her when I get back to New Zealand next week.”

The new father, who will fight Andy Ruiz Jr at Vector Arena on December 10, also missed his mother’s 50th and wasn’t able to attend his sister’s wedding because of training demands.

The boxer, who watched the wedding via Skype, marked the occasion with a special blessing for Elizabeth and her new husband Fonua Fuavao which he posted to social media sites.

The proud parents have paid tribute to Joseph’s family naming their new daughter after both his sister Elizabeth, and his mother Sala.

While the upcoming boxing bout could take the heavy weight champion to a world title ranking, Joseph said missing the special occasions had been hard but he’d used the emotions as fuel.

“It’s given me extra motivation to train harder for the fight,” he said. “I want to win but also training hard for them because I’ve missed these special occasions.”

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