By Sean McDaniel: Anthony Joshua has been doing a lot of talking about his fight last April against Wladimir Klitschko, and giving compliments to his former foe. Joshua stopped Klitschko in the 11th round of an exciting fight at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) has noticed all the talking Joshua has been doing about Wladimir, and he thinks he’s focusing on the wrong guy. He says Wladimir was older by the time he fought Joshua, and he plans on bringing a much different fight this Saturday night when the two face each other at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
Parker, 26, is considerably younger than Wladimir, who was 41-years-old last year when he fought Joshua. Parker feels he’s more at the top of his game now compared to where Wladimir was when he took on AJ and knocked him down in the 6th round and had him close to being knocked out.
“He keeps talking about Wladimir Klitschko,” Parker said to skysports.com. “Listen, I’m not Wladimir. If he’s focused on Wladimir, then he’s going to get a different fight altogether. I’m younger and sharper, and stronger. Wladimir, he ran the division for a long time, he’s a great fighter, and we respect him.”
I must bug Parker that he’s not being taken seriously by a lot of boxing fans as having a good chance of beating Joshua. Parker has already been dismissed by a lot of people as the token loser. Parker says he likes proving people wrong. He’s going to have to prove a massive amount of people wrong on Saturday because next to nobody is picking him to win. That’s the reason why Joshua and the boxing fans are talking about other fighters like Deontay Wilder, Jarrell Miller and Alexander Povetkin. They don’t see Parker as being a real threat to Joshua.
It’s understandable for Joshua to be looking back at his fight with Wladimir. Joshua learned a lot from that fight, and his fame increased considerably in the boxing world from that encounter. Wladimir is the biggest name on Joshua’s resume right now. Parker is not on the same level despite being a world champion. For Joshua to get someone close to Wladimir’s name, he’ll need to face WBC champion Deontay Wilder. That could be a fight that takes place later this year if the two fighters keep winning. Parker has a say so whether Joshua and Wilder fight each other this year if he beats Joshua on Saturday. A win for Parker will lead to him getting a rematch right away. Joshua cannot walk away from a loss to Parker without trying to avenge the defeat, although it’s possible that promoter Eddie Hearn might attempt to persuade AJ not to take the rematch if the first fight is one-sided.
Parker doesn’t have Wladimir’s punching power. Even at 41, Wladimir was still a big puncher and his hand speed was still good. The part of Wladimir’s game that wasn’t the same was his accuracy with his punches. In the last three years of his career, Wladimir lost his accuracy on his shots. He wasn’t able to time his opponents as good, and he would miss a lot of shots and get countered. That’s why in Wladimir’s fights with Bryant Jennings and Tyson Fury, he didn’t throw many punches. Wladimir looked like he was afraid of missing, and then getting hit with a hard counter. Parker can punch when he stands flat-footed and lets his hands go, but he loses a lot of the punching power he has because of the constant movement that he employs in his fights.
“He was a little older and I feel like I’m younger and sharper, and stronger,” Parker said about Wladimir.
Parker should know how well he stacks up compared to Wladimir, as he was a sparring partner for the Ukrainian in the past and he got a lot of work with him. Joshua’s trainer Rob McCracken believes that Wladimir was the harder fight for AJ than Parker. We’ll see if that’s the case on Saturday night when Parker and Joshua square off in front of 80,000 fans at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
Parker hasn’t fought good enough opposition for the boxing fans to rate him yet. His toughest fights came two years ago against Andy Ruiz Jr. and Carlos Takam, and those were both fights that could have gone either way. Parker didn’t impress against either of those guys. The fights that Parker had two years ago were leagues better than his two matches in 2017 against Hughie Fury and Razvan Cojanu. Parker’s management has dropped the ball in matching him so softly. That was mistake. The boxing public is overlooking Parker today because he doesn’t have the resume for them to take him seriously.