Superstar boxer Joseph Parker showed off his beloved family in public for the first time as they flew home from a well-earned Hawaiian holiday.
The heavyweight world title contender and his high- school sweetheart Laine Tavita, both 26, breezed through Auckland Airport, with their daughter Elizabeth, 22 months, riding on Dad’s trolley and her baby sister Shiloh, born in July, cuddled by a family friend after the nine-hour flight from Honolulu.
“He really is a gentle giant,” an onlooker tells Woman’s Day.
“You can see in the way he looks after everything that he’s a total family guy. I guess that’s the way he’s been raised.”
Laine and Joseph only moved into their first shared home shortly before Shiloh’s birth. Until then, they’d both been living at their parents’ homes, with Laine working in the 2 Degrees head office.
Joseph has spoken of making the sacrifice to miss Shiloh’s birth in order to fight British boxer Dillian Whyte, and provide for Laine and their kids.
He confessed, “It’s tough that I’m not there to help my partner, but she is very understanding and supportive. She realises that I’m not doing this only for myself, but I’m doing it for my family.”