By Scott Gilfoid: Anthony Joshua doesn’t know what to make of WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker’s self-confidence, and bold way of talking. Joshua feels very confident that he can beat Parker inside the ring, but he doesn’t understand why Parker isn’t acknowledging that. Joshua says he doesn’t want to get involved in trash talking the 25-year-old Parker. So, instead of doing that, Joshua plans on studying him and trying to figure him out mentally.
Parker has seen Joshua’s last 2 fights against Carlos Takam and Wladimir Klitschko. There’s were both fights in which Joshua looked tired and hurt at times. The 37-year-old Takam was able to give the 28-year-old Joshua problems despite being 9 years older, and 20 pounds lighter.
“Parker, I don’t know, it’s unpredictable, because from a fighting perspective, I know I can beat him,” Joshua said to Stuff.co.uk. “But he’s now trying to challenge me mentally, the things he’s saying, the way he’s acting, this is out of character.”
Joshua is so used to his opponents showing fear of him before they step inside the ring. He doesn’t seem to know how to grasp dealing with a guy that believes he can win. You can label Joshua’s behavior as a classic bully type. The bullies do well when their opponents are showing fear and giving up before they’ve even fought. But when someone stands up to them and shows that they’re not afraid, the bully often falls apart. Joshua is showing classic signs of a bully not being able to handle it when his opponent shows some courage. My guess is if Parker fails to bow and scrape the floor in showing submissive behavior to Joshua in the run up to their fight, it’s going to unnerve him and cause him to go to pieces.
It would be better for Joshua not to assume that he can beat fighters like Parker. Parker has the youth, size, power, stamina and the mobility to beat Joshua if he can drag him into a fast pace fight to wear him down. Parker will need to show courage at the right time in the fight when Joshua gasses out. Wladimir lost his courage after he hurt Joshua in the 6th in their fight last April. Wladimir knocked Joshua down in the 6th, and he had him at his mercy. It would have been so easy for Wladimir to finish Joshua. But just when Wladimir needed to be bold to finish his hurt and exhausted prey, he lost his confidence and allowed Joshua to survive by not going after him.
Parker will need to not fall in the same trap against Joshua. Paying too much respect to Joshua is the biggest mistake that can be made. Joshua obviously isn’t as good as some think he is in boxing. He should have lost to Wladimir, and he would have been beaten by Dillian Whyte as well if not for his shoulder injury. Joshua’s gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics was controversial due to him being given the nod in 2 fights that he appeared to lose against Roberto Cammarelle of Italy and Erislandy Savon of Cuba.
“So I have to reassess Parker,” said Joshua. ”I don’t get where he’s got this lease of confidence, I just don’t get it but I’m going to have to assess Parker because he’s not going to trouble me physically, he’s trying to get to me mentally. I have to keep my cool and not get involved in any trash talking,” said Joshua.
Joshua sounds like he has shaky self-confidence. He appears to want his opponents to act afraid of him and show him respect. Some of Joshua’s opponents will bow and cringe in showing their reverence to him, but he’s a fool if he thinks everyone is going to act like that.
Parker did a better job beating Carlos Takam than Joshua did. That tells you something. Joshua might not be open-minded enough to realize that Parker did a better job in beating Takam than he did, but it would be in his best interest to step back and realize that he’s not as good as he thinks he is. Joshua is a good fighter, but his performances against Wladimir, Takam and Whyte showed that there’s not much that separates him between those guys. The 41-year-old Wladimir showed that Joshua has limited skills.
Joshua needs to understand that he’s not nearly good enough to have the entire heavyweight division cringing at the thought of fighting him. Joshua isn’t another Muhammad Ali or a prime Mike Tyson.
Joshua isn’t even a prime George Foreman. Joshua is just a guy that has gotten over with the combination of soft match-making by his promoter Eddie Hearn and him having a huge size advantage over the guys that he’s been matched up against. In the one fight in which Joshua didn’t have a big size advantage against Wladimir Klitschko, he almost lost the fight. Wladimir dominated the action until the 11th round.
Parker can beat Joshua mentally before he even gets him inside the ring. Joshua is still too raw of a fighter to have true confidence. He doesn’t have enough talent and self-belief to beat to beat the best, so he tries to intimidate. That’s my view of Joshua. He’s got a lot of bully in him.
Here’s how Parker can beat Joshua:
• Use movement in the early rounds. Joshua is at his best early on in his fights. But after the 4 rounds, Joshua starts tiring from having to move his bodybuilder physique around the ring. That’s when Parker can take advantage of him by going for the knockout
• Stay out of range for Joshua’s punches. Joshua can’t throw long right hands from the outside, and his left is only useful for throwing left hooks from close range. Stay on the outside, and use a hit and move style. When Parker comes in punching range, he needs to make sure he makes his punches count by nailing Joshua as hard as he can with head shots. Joshua can’t take head shots all. If Parker keeps hitting him to the head, Joshua will start staggering and he’ll be ready to be knocked out.