Dillian Whyte and Joseph Parker meet between the extremes for a ticket to the front of the heavyweight queue

Both heavyweights have deep regrets about the night they lost their unbeaten records to Anthony Joshua, both are desperate to get a second chance in a business where desires mean very little

Dillian Whyte is not known for his humour, Joseph Parker is not known for spectacular displays of bad taste and somewhere between the smiling, beguiling extremes the pair will fight for prestige on Saturday night at the sold-out O2, in a part of south London claimed back from desolation.

Both heavyweights have deep regrets about the night they lost their unbeaten records to Anthony Joshua, in fights they have dreamed of far too many times since. Both are desperate to get a second chance in a business where desires mean very little. Joshua has new deals on his swollen coffee table, options that are the envy of the sporting world and still a few thousand of the 90,000 tickets to sell for his September fight at Wembley against Russia’s Alexander Povetkin.

This is a fine time to be a leading contender and the wrong time to risk that status in a fight that brings riches to both, but rejection to the loser; Parker and Whyte are fighting for the right to something that is far from guaranteed - they each want Joshua in a rematch next April at Wembley Stadium with all the belts, glory and cash. However, they are not at the top of list, not the name being peddled as a teaser. Boxing is the cruellest of sports, often brutal without a punch being landed.

Whyte knows that he has to impress, knows that floating through any of the twelve rounds and wasting rounds will end in defeat and, crucially, it will send him crashing far away from the heavyweight lottery. This is the most important fight of his life, far more important than the night at the O2 in 2015 when he lost to Joshua in what was a brawl between two angry boxers with too much pride and not enough skill.

Parker has admitted, with the honesty associated with decent men, often a bit lost in the heavyweight world, that he should have done a lot more when he met Joshua for three of the heavyweight titles in Cardiff in late March. He is right, he was a disappointment during many of the rounds.

Parker was surprised by how clever Joshua was, how cute Joshua was at blocking punches and controlling the fight. Parker had entered the ring as the WBO champion that night, but he was also the designated boxer, the thinker, the boxer with the brain and ability to adapt. However, Joshua, too often dismissed as wooden, limited and nothing more than a gifted fitness freak, was subtle that night and from ringside his safety-first approach was a welcome omen for the future. “Joshua shocked me, he was far smarter than I imagined,” said Parker.

During the last few months they have each been linked with a variety of fights, nights in Bulgaria, nights against Cuban exiles and seen their names placed on, and then struck off of the list kept by the mercurial WBC champion, Deontay Wilder. It has never been easy getting a shot at the world heavyweight title and often even harder to get a second chance, and history is cluttered with fallen men, broken men and some awful sob stories from the mouths of men ruined by diabolical exclusion.

Whyte needs to win in some style, achieve what Joshua failed to do and get to Parker, hurt him and keep him hurt. In March in Cardiff, Joshua in a moment of stunning honesty after the Parker fight never denied that he had taken the safe route, not taken any risks and settled for a controlled victory on points. Whyte doesn’t have the luxury of being Joshua, the loved one, the chosen one, the kid that can’t put a foot wrong. Whyte has to be wild, nasty and win over even more fans.

Both men need to win in style (Getty)

Parker, meanwhile, just has to be Parker, a steady heavyweight with quality basics, a good chin, a decent jab, a fine engine and hopefully that bit of hunger that was lacking when he failed to solve Joshua’s jab, jab and hold tactics in Cardiff. A Parker win on points is the sensible bet, but Whyte has that look of desperation in his eyes and will take some stopping.

It is the type of fight that went under the radar once upon a time, two big lumps without a cult following and a place in a massive fight as the bounty; thankfully that will not be the case in the O2 ring on Saturday night.