John Wayne Parr’s family are the Kardashians of kickboxing
In 2000 on the Thai King’s birthday John Wayne Parr beat the world champ in front of 100,000 people in Bangkok. 19 years later, he faces Anthony Mundine. Grantlee Kieza speaks to the man looking to knock out The Man.
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John Wayne Parr, a 43-year-old who made his name as one of Australia’s greatest ever kickboxers, fights 44-year-old Anthony Mundine in Brisbane on Saturday. He speaks with GRANTLEE KIEZA, reflecting on kicking goals throughout his all-action life
Tonight’s fight was moved this week from Cbus Super Stadium to the Brisbane Convention and Entertainment Centre. You weren’t happy?
I was gutted. For seven weeks I’d been visualising walking down the tunnel at Cbus and coming out in front of the crowd. You can just about see Cbus from my house and I wanted to tell my grandkids that I fought Anthony Mundine there. But I’m staying focused and beating Mundine anywhere is a big enough scalp.
You’ve mostly fought as a kickboxer but you had 13 pro boxing fights and held the Australian middleweight title in 2003. Did you think you could have beaten Mundine back then?
It would have been tough. I had my last boxing fight in 2003, three months before Mundine won the world super-middleweight title. Mundine was fighting big names such as Mikkel Kessler and was making waves on the world scene. I was still fighting Aussie locals. I respect Mundine for what he’s achieved and I’m very appreciative of getting the chance to fight him. I’m quietly confident I can win.
Why?
I think he’s on the decline. He’s lost a little of his speed and isn’t as sharp anymore. He’s also suffered a lot of trauma over the last 20 years and Father Time catches up with every man. I’ve stayed active and I fought as recently as August in Japan. I’ve been hit with knees and elbows, so to be hit with padded boxing gloves doesn’t intimidate me.
What do you expect from Mundine?
He might stick and move and I might not catch him for the first five or six rounds, but when I do catch him I know I’m going to hurt him because I hurt everyone. And I will keep the punches coming. I don’t throw ones and twos – I throw eights and 10s. I might miss the first six, but seven and eight are going to hurt.
Where did the John Wayne nickname come from?
The Thais. My real name is Wayne Parr. But in Thailand every fighter has a nickname. When I was over there the first time I told them that I’d grown up on farms and that my family were horse trainers. Suddenly they were billing me as a cowboy – “John Wayne’’ Parr. I thought “oh no, not John Wayne”. I didn’t think it would last and that I’d go back to being Wayne “The Punisher” Parr, but 20 years later everyone still calls me John Wayne.
Even when I met my wife Angie she called me John for the first few weeks.
Angie was a star kickboxer too?
Yes, a two-time world kickboxing champion and she also had some professional boxing fights. Angie is American and I met her in Las Vegas in 2002. I had the opportunity to work and fight in America and I spent four months in Vegas and six months in San Diego. We met on March 1 and were married on September 1.
Your whole family is into kickboxing?
Yes, we’re the Kardashians of Kickboxing. Jasmine is 16, Jesse is 11 and Jenna is five. Jasmine has had 25 kickboxing fights, including two in Thailand, two in England and one in Canada. She won in Thailand again on Monday.
How did you start in the sport?
I was born at Albury on the Murray River. My mum and dad were horse trainers who moved around a lot. Growing up I went to 11 schools in Queensland and New South Wales before I finally settled for good on the Gold Coast when I was 16. When I was 11 we lived at Hendra – our house backed on to Eagle Farm racecourse. I loved the show Monkey when I was a kid and it inspired me to start learning taekwondo. At 13 I hadn’t even had a proper fight yet but I told myself I was going to be a world champion and that I had to go to Thailand and beat a Thai. It was just about the time (1989) the Jean-Claude van Damme movie Kickboxer came out and kickboxing became my passion. In 2000 on the Thai King’s birthday I beat the world champ in front of 100,000 people in Bangkok. I ended up winning two world titles there. I started fighting in Thailand for 1000 baht, which is about $35, and ended up fighting for a million baht.
You’ve had 147 fights altogether. What’s been the big motivation?
Not being poor. I’m not a millionaire but my family are comfortable. I bought myself a gym on the Gold Coast and I invested my money wisely.
You were already a star kickboxer in the late 90s when you took up boxing. Why the change of codes?
I was inspired by another Gold Coast fighter Paul Briggs, who was a great kickboxer and went on to challenge for world titles in boxing.
What has been your toughest fight?
The boxer Sakio Bika. That was my last boxing match. When I fought Sakio everyone was scared of him but even though he was a lot bigger than me, I went 12 rounds with him and lost on points. He ended up becoming world champion in America.
What’s the worst you’ve been hurt?
I suffered a broken eye socket in 2014 in a kickboxing fight when I copped an elbow in the cheek in Melbourne. I spent three nights in Royal Melbourne Hospital and my mum, Debbie, had to drive me back to the Gold Coast because the injury was too bad for me to fly.
One of your career highlights was being on the Contender Asia TV show filmed in Singapore?
Yes, but it was a time when there was a lot of turmoil in my life. It was a month before my father Jimmy died, and two months before Angie gave birth to Jesse. It was the happiest, saddest, craziest and most exciting time – all the emotions you could imagine.
Muay Thai fighting is more than sport isn’t it. There’s a spiritual component as well?
Yes, the spiritual aspect and the fact it is a way of life is one of the things that has kept me going for so long. I lived as a monk in a Buddhist temple in 2007.
QUICK OFF THE MARK
FIRST CAR?
Ford Falcon XD
COFFEE ORDER?
Anything with caffeine
YOUR IDOL GROWING UP?
Ramon Dekkers, a Muay Thai fighter from the Netherlands, and also Kostya Tszyu.
BEST ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN?
Never give up
WHO PLAYS YOU IN A MOVIE?
My doppelganger Chris Hemsworth
FAVOURITE TV SHOW?
Monkey. It was the TV show that got me into martial arts
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