By Tim Royner: Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) has rejected former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury’s offer to assist him with sparring for his March 31 fight against IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
Parker wants sparring partners that have a similar fighting style to the 6’5”, 240-pound Joshua, so that he can use his speed, movement and angles to get the better of them. That’s how the 26-year-old Parker plans on fighting Joshua when the 2 of them meet in front of a packed house at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
Parker notes that a lot of the guys that fight Joshua tend to stand directly in front of him and allow him to get his punches off. Parker isn’t going to do that. He’s going to make sure he presents a moving target just as Wladimir Klitschko did I his fight with AJ last April at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Joshua wasn’t able to and much of anything when Wladimir was on the move. It was only when he stopped that he was able to get his shots off.
“I want to fight a fight that’s going to be a fast-paced fight… movement, speed and just different angles – I think that’s how we are going to attack Joshua,” Parker said to Radio Live via stuff.co.nz.
Parker can at least slow Joshua down by staying on the move, and not being stationary. I don’t think Parker can win the fight like that. Parker will wind up giving away too many rounds if he moves the way we saw Hughie Fury move against him last September. The judges aren’t going to give Parker rounds if he’d unwilling or unable to stand and fight a certain portion of each round. It would be well for Parker to devote 30 to 60 seconds of each round for continuous fighting to try and tire Joshua out, and to let the judges know that he’s willing to fight. Parker barely beat Carlos Takam by a 12 round unanimous decision in May 2016.
He’s [Joshua] dominated fighters that stand in front of him, that don’t move – all they do is protect themselves,” Parker said about Joshua.
Joshua has fought a lot of guys that didn’t seem to know what they were doing inside the ring. It’s as if none of them studied Joshua’s past fights to know what not to do against him. In most of Joshua’s fights in which he’s scored knockouts, his opponents have gone to the ropes and covered up like sparring partners while he flailed away at them until the fights were stopped. Joshua does well against fighters that cover up against the ropes. He doesn’t do as well against fighters that move around the ring and stay in the center of the ring.
”We found guys that we think that doesn’t have everything Joshua has, but each of them have bits that we can see or help us prepare for what he brings,” Parker said.
Parker shouldn’t forget that he brings a lot to the fight too in terms of punching power and ability. Joshua has something to worry about too in this fight, especially if Parker unloads on him with his big shots and gets him tired. Joshua has proven to be poor at getting his second wind once he fades.