Parker confident he has the power

Joseph Parker and trainer Kevin Barry have defended the Kiwi heavyweight’s punching power as they put the finishing touches on the first defence of his WBO title.

Parker takes on Romanian Razvan Cojanu - a late replacement for the injured Hughie Fury - on Saturday, although there was no escaping the glare of Anthony Joshua’s spectacular triumph over Wladimir Klitschko when he fronted media at a central Auckland gym yesterday.

The 25-year-old was peppered with questions about a potential matchup with Joshua, who added the WBA and IBO belts to his IBF strap with an 11th-round stoppage of Klitschko, as well as the American WBC champion Deontay Wilder.

Around 90,000 packed into Wembley Stadium to watch Joshua establish himself as arguably the No 1 heavyweight on the planet and, as speculation builds over his next opponent, it has led boxing pundits in the UK and America to question whether Parker has the power to foot it with the best of the best.

But while his main focus is on Cojanu, Parker says his critics are in for a big surprise when he eventually heads north.

‘‘Say what you want to say and believe what you want to believe, is it about power or is it about speed?’’ Parker asked. ’’Can he catch me or can he not? We’ll see.

‘‘They don’t think that we’re up to that level but when we do get in the ring with them they’ll see.’’

Barry was much more forthright in his response on Joshua, who fought back brilliantly against Klitschko after being dropped in the sixth round.

‘‘I can promise you this,’’ Barry added. ‘‘If Joseph Parker hits Anthony Joshua on the chin and had him on his back like he was in the sixth round, that fight would’ve been over. There’d be no rounds seven to 11.’’

Parker’s failure to finish Carlos Takam and Andy Ruiz - two hugely underrated fighters in Barry’s opinion - means it is easy to overlook his knockout ability.

But Barry has no doubt that any perceived lack in power is more than compensated for by Parker’s lightning hand speed.

‘‘Joseph’s got a lot of impressive one-punch knockouts.

‘‘Does he hit as hard as Anthony Joshua? No, I don’t think he does but when you combine Joe’s power with his speed that combination is as lethal as anything Joshua has.’’

Saturday’s bout at the Vodafone Events Centre is likely to be Parker’s last in New Zealand for some time.

However, there is no doubt that Fury’s withdrawal two weeks ago and the amazing scenes at Wembley have taken some of the gloss off the occasion.

An emphatic knockout would provide the perfect reminder to the rest of the world that Parker is indeed a force to be reckoned with.