By Tim Royner: Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) says it’s common knowledge that Anthony Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) has a glass chin and can’t take a punch. Parker’s proof that Joshua can’t take a punch is how he was knocked down by former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in the 6th round last year in April at Wembley Stadium.
Joshua got up from the knockdown and came back to stop Wladimir in round 11. Parker says he’ll go for the kill if he knocks Joshua down. He won’t let him survive the way Klitschko did.
Earlier on Sunday, Joshua and Parker announced the news of their big fight on March 31 on Sky Box Office and Showtime Boxing from the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Parker, 26, can’t wait to get Joshua inside the ring so he can get to his fragile chin and finish the job the 41-year-old Klitschko started last April.
Parker is about to start a long 10-week training camp in the U.S to get ready for the fight with Joshua. Parker will be taking some weight off to get into the 230s so that he can have speed to deal with Joshua’s offense. Parker feels he’s got a better chance of winning if he’s elusive.
Wladimir had a mental lapse in thinking it was smart for him to let Joshua stay in the fight after he knocked him down in the 6th. Wladimir could have finished the job if he’d wanted to against Joshua, but he left him alone and mostly jabbed him from rounds 7 to 11. Joshua got his second wind in the 11th and was able to knock Wladimir down 2 times and stop him. While it was seen as a great victory for Joshua by his boxing fans, it was a performance that showed that he has major vulnerabilities with his ability to take a punch and not notably in his recovery time after expending energy. The top heavyweights in the division saw Joshua both hurt and tired in the Klitschko fight, and they now feel that he’s very beatable.
“All we have said is that Joshua has a glass chin. We know it, he knows it, everybody knows it, they just don’t talk about it,” Parker said to the telegraph.co.uk. “We saw him get dropped by Wladimir Klitschko…if I catch him and hurt him I’m not going to give him the chance to recover. I won’t be letting him off the hook. I’ll go in fast, I’ll go in hard, and I’ll go in for the kill,” said Parker.
Parker is incorrect about people not talking about Joshua’s problems in taking punches. The boxing fans talk about it, and it’s been noticed by the top heavyweights. With talk of Joshua being knocked down by his former sparring partner Daniel Dubois, it’s clear that he has problems taking shots.
Parker, 26, plans on preventing Joshua from getting to the big unification fight against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder and his mega-fight against popular Ring HW champion Tyson Fury this year. Those are both fights that Joshua wants to take to carve out his legacy in the sport of boxing. If Parker can knockout Joshua to keep him from getting those fights, he will have done huge damage to his career. Parker is undefeated, as is Joshua.
It won’t be too much of an upset if Parker is able to beat Joshua because he’s a very good fighter and a heavyweight champion. When you have unbeaten world champions facing each other like with the Joshua-Parker fight, it’s not going to be a big upset Parker has the power to take Joshua out with a single shot. He can also make sure the judges don’t have a say in the final outcome of the fight.
“I think Joshua has been rattled [by it],” Parker said to espn.com. ”Now he is rattled and angry and that will bring out the best of him in the fight.”
Joshua will look to brawl with Parker regardless of whether he’s upset or not. That’s just the way Joshua fights. He’s been a brawler since his amateur days. You can call that a major weakness in Joshua’s game. He can be so easily dragged into a brawl. Joshua doesn’t fight smart. When Joshua’s opponents want to go to war with him, he’ll readily slug with them, even it’s not in his best interest to do so. The smart heavyweights from the past like Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko weren’t drain into wars as easily as Joshua. The heavyweight that Joshua reminds this writer of is Evander Holyfield.
During his prime, Holyfield was always getting into wars with his opponents. It worked well for Holyfield until he started meeting up with bigger heavyweights like Riddick Bowe and Lennox Lewis. Joshua is going to have to learn to fight smart and use his boxing skills a little more if he wants to have a long heavyweight title reign. The way Joshua is fighting now, it’s only a matter of time before one of the heavyweights tires him out the way Wladimir did and knocks him out. Joshua gets hurt whether he’s tired or not. He wasn’t tired against Dillian Whyte when he was hurt in the 2nd round. Joshua wasn’t tired against Wladimir when he was first hurt by a big right hand in the 5th round.
In the 6th, Wladimir nailed Joshua with a left-right combination that badly hurt him. Those punches would have hurt Joshua any point in the fight. He was a little tired at the point in the fight.
Joshua’s habit of getting drawn into wars will continue to give him problems in the future. Parker might be the fighter to take advantage of Joshua’s impulse to fight back when hit harder. If Parker can get Joshua to use up all of his energy in the first 3 rounds, he might be able to knock him out once he’s gassed out and slow to recoup. Joshua isn’t like a prime Mike Tyson, who could throw a lot of punches without fading. Joshua is too muscle-bound and he doesn’t handle throwing a lot of punches in a sustained manner the way Tyson could.
“I truly believe I’m going to come out victorious,” said Parker.