South Auckland is a tough place to grow up. It's here where many Pacific Islanders emigrate in the hope of a better life for their families. But it's far from the bright lights of New Zealand's biggest city, the streets are rough and opportunities are few and far between.
It was in the small suburb of Mangere that Joseph Parker -- also known by his honorary Samoan title Lupesoliai La'auli -- was born, the second eldest of Sala and Dempsey Parker's three children.
They were a small family by Samoan standards but, with Sala's mother living at their house and plenty of cousins close by, their home was always full.
"He was the ideal kid," Joseph's sister Elizabeth Fuavao [née Parker] tells ESPN.
"He was pretty much my Dad's shadow, anywhere he went Joe would follow along. One of my Dad's legs is about half the size of the other one and sometimes it was hard to do jobs so Joe would go along and help in any way he could."
Sport can be the gateway to a better life for many Pacific Island kids and Dempsey -- named after the famous American boxer Jack Dempsey -- who was deprived a chance to box because of his leg injury, knew this could be the outlet for his two sons.
He took Joseph and his younger brother John -- also a professional boxer -- to a local gym in Papatoetoe, where they met local trainer Grant Arkell, who will be in Cardiff in Mose Auimatagi Jr's corner when he takes on Morgan Jones on the Joshua-Parker undercard.
"Joseph came to our gym in 2002 and started boxing as a 10 year-old," Arkell told ESPN. "He was a little overweight kid, always tall for his age but he was a plump little boy.
"He showed he had the talent but he wasn't very interested. Did what he had to, you could see he could do a lot more and a lot better but his heart wasn't really in it."
It was fishing and food that stood in the way of Parker's commitment to boxing.
"He didn't really care," Arkell said bluntly. "He told me he was more interested in volleyball.
"Fishing has always been his passion, he missed many a training session because he was fishing. He'd come into the gym and tell me that somebody had died or he had to go to the airport to pick somebody up but his brother John would tell me that they've been fishing."
Parker had a few amateur fights in 2003 and 2004 before taking a bit of a break. He got back into the sport as a teenager but fights were few and far between.
With little money and resources pumped into amateur boxing in New Zealand, Parker was running out of people to fight. Many boxers at his age were giving up, or switching to rugby union or rugby league where they could offer the financial security to forge out a career.
But Parker wanted to make his Dad proud, and kept at it.
"There was this one amateur fight in Rotorua where the family made a trip down the day after Joseph went with his team from the gym," his sister Elizabeth explains.
"Mum, Dad, John, another relative and me were in a van when the relative took over driving after Dad started to get a bit tired. Not long after switching we came up to a police road stop. We didn't know at the time, but our relative's licence was suspended so the police impounded the van and dropped us at the nearest petrol station to arrange alternative transport.
"It wasn't until well after the fight they could come pick us up. Joseph fought an older guy and lost. He felt really bad, not only because of the loss, but because of everything we had gone through while making our way down to watch him.
"It helped motivate him to train harder and be more committed to his boxing because he never wanted my parents to ever go through something like that again."
Grant Arkell began to notice a sharper focus too.
Money was still an obstacle but the determination to succeed began to emerge. Arkell gave up his funds that was set to go to his own air-fare so Parker could travel by himself to fight in the World Amateur Championships in Azerbaijan in 2009.
He became the first New Zealander to beat a Cuban champion at the tournament also attended by Anthony Joshua. Later that year a local trust fund raised $6500 to allow Arkell and Parker to head to the Youth Olympics in Singapore where it finally clicked.
"He told me then that he realised what I'd been trying to do and that he could go a lot further," Arkell recalled. "That was another stepping stone and from there he just flourished."
A silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi followed as Arkell began to set Parker's sights on Olympic gold at London 2012.
Parker, then 18, began a course to become a builder in case boxing fell through but by then he was starting to make a name for himself in certain circles, and the potential to turn professional was becoming a more realistic prospect.
Arkell wanted him to forge out a strong amateur career, and had found a financial backer to get him to London and then the Rio Olympics four years later.
But an offer came through from boxing enthusiast and former politician Sir Bob Jones to support Parker if he was to give up the amateurs and turn pro.
While Anthony Joshua was on a path to Olympic gold in London, Parker had his first professional fight -- a messy but comfortable TKO win over Dean Garmonsway.
Duco Events then came on board, as Parker joined forces with renowned trainer Kevin Barry in Las Vegas. They fast-tracked his career to see Parker become world champion within four years, having beaten Andy Ruiz for the vacant WBO belt at the end of 2016.
Two scrappy defences of that title have followed, but it's his bout with Joshua that will undoubtedly be his career-defining moment to date.
It's a far cry from what could've been if he didn't head back to the gym as a kid in Papatoetoe.
"If it wasn't for boxing, Joseph would be a carpenter and we would all just be doing the normal 9-5 jobs," his sister Elizabeth said. "My parents wouldn't be travelling the world, we wouldn't be having all these experiences and meeting the kind of people that we have."
Win or lose at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, Parker's rise is already a success.