Even though he had never competed at heavyweight, he seized the chance to face former world champion Joseph Parker.
Parker prevailed in the hard-fought 10-round bout, although Massey—who had only lost once before, to fellow Brit Richard Riakporhe—performed admirably.
The outcome put Massey back in the running at his natural cruiserweight weight class, and on October 12, the fighter from Chapel-en-le-Frith will travel to Saudi Arabia to compete against Australian Jai Opetaia for the IBF cruiserweight world title.
For Massey, though, things were considerably different in 2022. Massey was having contract disputes with a promoter when he found himself on a scaffolding site without getting into any physical altercations.
“I have to pay for my family, so I had to leave the gym and get a job,” he said.
“My brother kept me going by helping me with his boss and getting me a job on the scaffolding site, but it also gave me the push to say, ‘I don’t want to be back doing this.'” I want to pick up boxing again, give it my all, and succeed at it.”
Massey and his partner lost two babies in the same year, and the fighter acknowledges that he was on the verge of giving up.
