By Scott Gilfoid: Joseph Parker’s promoter David Higgins thinks Anthony Joshua is asking for trouble in putting his focus on a unification fight against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder rather than focusing on the task at hand in the March 31st unification fight against Parker at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
Higgins sees this working against Joshua when he gets inside the ring with the 26-year-old Parker at the end of the month in their fight on Sky Box Office.
It’s easy to see why Joshua is looking past he Parker fight or any fight for that matter. He’s had so many easy fights. Joshua has only had one credible opponent during his career and that was 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko. Joshua came close to losing that match. All the success Joshua has had against lesser fighters has done something to his ego, making him overlook guys like Parker. It’s up to Parker to show the 28-year-old Joshua that he’s made a mistake in overlooking him.
“All this talk about Deontay Wilder, I think Anthony Joshua looks past Joseph Parker at his peril,” Higgins said to skysports.com. “Anthony Joshua’s making a grave mistake, if he’s looking past Parker. It’s one thing to quietly analyze future possibilities, but if they are going any further and are in the early stage of negotiations, it’s far too early for any of that.”
Parker needs to go after Joshua’s chin the way Wladimir did. That doesn’t mean he should go after Joshua right away in the 1st round on March 31. It’ll depend though. If Joshua bum rushes Parker and he has no choice but to fight it out, then he’ll have otherwise he’ll get knocked out for sure. Parker needs to avoid the mistake that the fodder opposition that Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has fed Joshua since he turned pro in 2012, and that’s to stay off the ropes.
The guys that Joshua has continually knocked out have backed up against the ropes and let him unload his punches. Hearn has been very good at finding guys that made this careless mistake against Joshua. Parker is smarter enough to know that if he boxes himself in by fighting in the corner or against the ropes, he’ll be making it easy for Joshua.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that Joshua will knock Parker out if he has him against the ropes, because Wladimir was next to the ropes when he clocked Joshua last year. He nailed Joshua with a right hand that sent him down on the canvas. If not for Wladimir’s faulty decision-making in letting Joshua recover, he would have knocked him out in that round.
Joshua is so involved with collecting the heavyweight world titles. He seems to think that if he wins all the titles, he’ll be crowned as the greatest heavyweight that ever breathed, and that’s not going to be the case. If Joshua does beat Parker and Wilder to unify the heavyweight division, then he’ll need to show that he can hold onto the titles against all comers. For Joshua to be recognized as the greatest heavyweight champion of all time, he’ll need to outdo Joe Louis’ record of 13 years as a champion. I wish Joshua a lot of luck trying to do what Louis did in holding onto a title from 1937 to 1950.
””He is firing on all cylinders. This camp is the best he’s had,” said Higgins. “I talk to Kevin and Joe most days and there is a calm, confident air,” Higgins said of Parker.
The best thing for Joshua is if Parker gives him a lot of problems in losing. Think about it; if Parker knocks Joshua down once or twice in a losing effort, then it’ll make the Joshua-Wilder fight that much bigger, because the boxing public will see it as an even money fight that could go either way. The boxing fans will be more excited about the Wilder vs. Joshua fight than they will be if Joshua goes out and obliterates Parker straightaway on March 31.
Joshua needs Parker to make a fight of it if he wants to maximize the revenue for his unification fight against Wilder. With the way Wilder looked shaky in beating Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz by a 10th round knockout on March 3 of this month, there aren’t too many boxing people giving the Bronze Bomber much of a chance against Joshua. That’s why it would be to the 28-year-old Joshua’s best interest for Parker to give him a hellacious battle before bowing out and becoming knockout victim number 21 on his record.
Wilder will have a chance of beating Joshua regardless. There’s more money to be made in the Joshua-Wilder fight if Joshua struggles badly against Parker. The worst thing that could happen for Joshua is for him to have an easy fight against Parker. If Joshua does that, then no one will give any chance of beating him, and there won’t be as much interest in the fight.
Parker is in the position as the spoiler. Since he’s being overlooked by everyone, he’s got little pressure on him against a fighter that has major stamina problems and a chin problem as well. Joshua is flawed. He’s not someone that is going to hold onto his heavyweight titles for 13 years or even 10 years the way Joe Louis did. He’s going to get knocked out sooner or lever. It’s only a matter of time. Parker has a chance to do it, but he can’t freeze under the lights and not throw punches like we’ve seen with many of the guys that Hearn has matched against Joshua.