With the announcement of Anthony Joshua vs Joseph Parker in March, the two were in London on Tuesday as a press conference was held ahead of the fight.
The WBA Super and IBF title holder spoke about claims from Parker’s camp that Joshua has a “glass chin” and that the Brit has taken his fair share of knockdowns. Parker’s trainer, David Higgins has also spoken about Joshua, claiming the 28 year old should not be comparing himself to sporting greats such as Roger Federer, claiming the champion to have only had a short career compared to Federer’s.
Parker, 26, believes his words about Joshua have stirred up the champion, something the New Zealander was hoping for.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Parker said, “I feel like the team has done a great job to get under his skin. 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. We saw him get dropped by Wladimir Klitschko but he still had the heart to get up and finish the fight – I’ll give him that – but if I catch him and hurt him I’m not going to give him the chance to recover”.
In regards to Parker’s camp’s comments, Joshua said at the press conference, “When you talk about myself getting dropped and what you done, it’s a marketability strategy. When you want to talk about facts – the three times that I have been hurt or dropped was in the European Championships when McCracken knows I was actually banned from the GB team, because I was still getting in trouble”.
“I stopped boxing and two weeks before that European Championship, I was called up to the country. I was very unfit, I didn’t get dropped. I got stopped. When your tank is empty, it’s hard to perform.”
“The second time was David Price. I had come out of a police cell the day I went up to training. I’m not going to use it as an excuse, but David Price is a puncher, and lack of experience.”
“With Klitschko, all those times it told me, it will take more than a human to stop me from where I’m destined to be, and that’s what I learnt.”
“Not to walk with sight, because when you’re fatigued you don’t know where you are. I walk with faith in this journey.”
“In terms of using it as a PR stunt. The rumours that you have heard, they’re fake news. Hand on my heart. PR, whatever you want to use it for, is between you and your camp.”
Joshua has stated, when speaking to SkySports, that a post fight handshake is not on the cards. “In sports you’ve got the likes of Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Lewis Hamilton, Cristiano Ronaldo, [Lionel] Messi, LeBron James, and then you’ve got people like Joseph Parker, so he’s not a respectable type of person, he can’t control himself. He’ll be respectful after I whoop him. He might try to shake my hand. I won’t shake his hand though.”
