By Scott Gilfoid: After being a slugger for his entire 5-year pro career, Anthony Joshua suddenly fancies himself as a counter puncher now, and he plans on setting up traps all night long in his unification fight this Saturday night against WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/SHOWTIME)
Parker says he just wants a war with Joshua. That’s not Parker’s style of fighting though. He’s more a boxer than the type of guys that stands and trades bombs all night long.
IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) will be looking to add the WBO title to his growing collection title belts. Joshua sees winning all the titles in the heavyweight division as something that will validate him. Unfortunately, it just means that he’s just started the process of proving himself, because it takes ages for a fighter to prove himself.
Look at Wladimir Klitschko. He was a world champion for 10 years, and he was still seen as a flawed, beatable guy all those years. Joshua might be in the same boat unless he takes the riskier fight instead of falling back into his old pattern of taking the easy contests.
“It’s good news that he wants a war. In boxing, all you need is a good chin and a right hand but I’ve been working on finesse, technique, counter punching,” Joshua said.
It’s actually not a good thing for Joshua that Parker wants a war, because if he’s able to connect with some of his big right hands and left hooks, he could hurt Joshua like Wladimir Klitschko, Dillian Whyte and Carlos Takam all did.
Joshua talks as if he’s already established himself as a great boxer. The fact is, Joshua hasn’t done that. Just because he’s been working on being more technical for this training camp against Parker doesn’t mean he’s going to be able to apply what he’s learned. It’s one thing practicing new things inside the gym against sparring partners or shadow boxing, and it’s quite another thing to use those things in real combat.
I hope Joseph Parker falls into my booby traps because I’m going to set him up with some power shots as well. Yeah, I’ll be up for a war. I’ll hopefully be up for some blood, sweat, and cheers from my corner,” Joshua said.
The one booby trap that Joshua likes to use is his uppercut on the inside. Joshua hurt Wladimir with that shot in the 10th round, and it turned the fight around for him. It wasn’t much of a booby trap, as it’s a punch that Joshua uses all the time and Wladimir should have been prepared for that punch. He got sloppy and paid for it.
Parker would be best to try and get Joshua out of there as fast as he can on Saturday night, because he’s probably not going to be able to win a decision. Joshua gasses out at any point in the fight, so there’s no reason why Parker should wait until the later rounds to try and knock him out. If Parker waits, he could be knocked out before he gets a shot late in the fight.
