By Jeff Aranow: Anthony Joshua has sized up WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker, and concluded that he’ll knockout both without too many problems. Despite the belief by many in the boxing world that Wilder is likely the better fighter of the two at this moment, Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) feels that he’ll knock him out quickly when the time comes.
Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) will be a little more difficult says Joshua, because he can take punishment.
Joshua also sees himself beating former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, who is still trying to get back into the sport after having his boxing license stripped following a positive drug test and some issues related to mental health.
“I think I know what I have to do with Wilder, Parker I don’t disregard him but I think I’d smack Parker around the ring, no problem,” said Joshua via the dailystar.co.uk. “Wilder, I’d knock Wilder out, it would take a bit of time but I’d definitely knock him out.”
There might not be much time for Joshua to try and solve the Wilder puzzle. Nowadays, not too many heavyweights are lasting long with Wilder. Once he gets his offense going at full speed, he has been knocking guys out straightaway. Wilder’s last opponent Bermane Stiverne lasted less than 1 round against him.
Stiverne obviously isn’t as good a fighter as Joshua is, but you can make a convincing argument that he has a better chin as him and better stamina. Wilder dropped Stiverne with the first right hand he hit him with. The conclusion is that if Wilder could do that to the strong-chinned Stiverne, then there’s a very good possibility that he’ll do the same thing to Joshua.
Joshua hasn’t shown himself to be a fighter with one-punch power since he turned pro, but he still believes that he’ll KO Wilder with one punch. If Wilder lands his shot first, then the fight could be over before Joshua even gets a chance to deliver one of his big knockout blows. Boxing great James Toney believes the Joshua vs. Wilder fight comes down to which of the fighter lands the first big shot. He sees the Joshua-Wilder fight as a 50-50 fight that is difficult to predict with any degree of accuracy.
“Parker would take a bit more of a pasting but I’d get to him. Wilder, I’d knock him out with one shot. Not like I’d go in there and bang but when I catch Wilder, I’d definitely knock him out,” said Joshua.
Parker didn’t look good in his last 3 fights against Hughie Fury, Razvan Cojanu and Andy Ruiz Jr. For Parker to have a chance against Joshua, he’ll need to get back to the level he was at when he was destroying guys like Alexander Dimitrenko and Solomon Haumono.
Perhaps it’s not possible that Parker was never the fighter that some boxing fans thought he was after those wins. Whether that’s true or not is debatable. What’s no debatable is Parker’s punching power. He is a very good puncher, and if he hits Joshua on the button with full force, the chances are he’ll have him on the canvas just like Wladimir Klitschko did earlier this year.
“And Fury would be a real breakdown job, a real gruesome type fight,” said Joshua. Kind of like that Klitschko fight – I’ll go to hellfire and back to get the win.”
Fury is another guy that is difficult to predict against Joshua. The Joshua that gassed out and labored to a premature 10th round stoppage win over Carlos Takam would have problems with Tyson Fury. Joshua would have a massive amount of problems against an in shape and motivated Fury. The one question that we don’t know is whether Fury will ever be the same fighter he once was again. When a fighter has ballooned up to 400 pounds the way Fury has, it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to regain his former skills to be what he was before in the past. Fury will need to be at his ultimate best for him to beat Joshua. He problem knows this though, because the two have sparred together in the past.