By Tim Royner: Anthony Joshua is the most overhyped fighter in the world, says WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker’s trainer Kevin Barry. He acknowledges that Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) is a good fighter, and he comes from an excellent amateur background from the UK. Never the less, Barry says Joshua is a flawed fighter, and not the guy that many think he is.
Parker and Joshua will be meeting up with one another in a little over 2 months from now in a heavyweight unification fight on March 31 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Joshua will have his IBF/WBA titles on the line against WBO champion Parker.
Barry doesn’t say what flaws he and Parker both see in in the 6’5”, 254 pound Joshua, but it’s likely his stamina problems and his poor punch resistance. They watched Joshua’s last fight against Carlos Takam, as well as his fight with Wladimir Klitschko, and they saw something from those fights that instill them with confidence. Joshua was tired in both of those fights, and he was hurt as well.
”I also believe that there is a lot of hype around this man and I think he’s probably the most overhyped fighter in the world at the moment,” said Parker’s trainer Barry to skysports.com. “He saw a lot of things in the Takam fight that really excited him. I think the Takam fight really put everything back into perspective,” said Barry.
Barry says Parker will come into the Joshua fight lighter than he did in his last fight against Hughie Fury on September 23. Parker weighed 245 lbs. for the Hughie fight, and he spent most of the contest chasing him around the ring, trying to get him to fight. While Parker did an admirable job of cutting off the ring and forcing Hughie to exchange with him, he was foiled by the holding that the British fighter would do when he would catch up to him. Barry says Parker will come into the Joshua fight around 237 pounds. Parker weighed 234 lbs. for his fight with Carlos Takam in May 2016.
The lighter weight enabled Parker to move around the ring without gassing out. Takam, 241, outweighed Parker by 7 lbs. for that fight, but he wasn’t able to use his weight advantage to get the better of him.
Before Joshua’s last fight against Takam, his promoter Eddie Hearn said that he would be coming into the fight lighter than usual. Instead, Joshua weighed a career high of 254 pounds.
“I think it’s very important that Joe is very fast on his feet and very mobile in this fight against Joshua,” said Barry.
Parker shouldn’t get too low for the Joshua fight. 240 might be the best weight for him. When Parker fought Alexander Dimitrenko in October 2017, he seemed to be at the perfect weight for him. Parker had enough power to trample Dimitrenko in that fight. In Parker’s last fight against Hughie, he was too heavy for the opponent that he was in with. In other words, Parker wasn’t light enough to catch up to Hughie to force him to fight. Takam came in too light for his fight with Joshua, and his punches weren’t able to do a lot of damage. Had Takam weighed in the 250s, he might have had a better shot at defeating the 28-year-old Joshua.