At a glance
Anthony Joshua v Joseph Parker, world heavyweight title unification fight
9am tomorrow approx $5.25 Joshua $1.13, Parker
appear to be having second thoughts about Parker, enough to suggest this could be a contest worthy of these rare circumstances.
The pair have prepared with diligence befitting the occasion. Parker appears to be in his best nick for a couple of years and Joshua is his usual imposing self, even looking a little leaner which is a mark of respect to Parker’s speed of hand and foot.
And deep down, below the bellowing of knockout predictions and glass chins, there lies a massive undercurrent of respect between these two boxers and their camps. Their records alone, along with their championship belts, deserve nothing less.
Both fighters are oozing confidence. That comes with the territory, neither know how to lose.
The mind games have been immense, another part of the phony war before the real war and Parker’s persistent questioning of Joshua certainly seems to have hit a nerve, producing uncommon anger in the big Brit.
That could go two ways. Have Parker and his team stirred the beast in Joshua to the extent he will be angered into demolishing Parker, or have they triggered doubts in what has seemed an impregnable fortress of faith?
Parker appears cool and calculating, coming off what has certainly been the best camp of his career, one that backed on to double elbow surgery he insists has him punching harder than ever.
He will need every inch of that grunt to topple the huge Joshua.
Right from the moment these two exciting talents stepped into the professional ranks within nine months of each other a collision course was set. This fight always looked inevitable.
That moment has arrived. It is a moment that Parker and his trainer Kevin Barry have maintained comfort in, believing Joshua’s aggressive style perfectly suits the Kiwi’s attributes. This then, is a moment of truth. To be in the company of names like Ali, Frazier and Tyson is heady stuff.
None of them stayed unbeaten forever. But they produced performances that produced rivalries and that is what the glamour division of boxing is crying out for among what is being heralded as a new generation of exciting talent.
For Parker and Joshua, something has to give. One punch or one mistake? Will it be the first round or go to the last round?
As Mccracken so wisely said, no one really knows until the bell goes. couple of new items tucked away in there for the long walk to the ring in Cardiff tomorrow.
They are quite literally the ties that link him to Wales.
Barry had never set foot in the country until arriving this week.
He had waited 44 years to rekindle a strong association with Welsh boxing established by his father Kevin Barry Snr, one of New Zealand’s most respected and successful trainers.
Barry was 14 when his father was the liaison official helping the Welsh boxing team at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in his home city of Christchurch.
The teen immersed himself in the experience. Younger brother Bryan was also in attendance then, just as he will be tomorrow as cutman.
‘‘We went to all the fights and watched them training. It was an incredible experience for a couple of youngsters’’ Barry remembers.
At the end of the Games, the Welsh presented his father with a tie to thank him for his help.
Barry senior rekindled his Welsh friendship at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Scotland when he coached the New Zealand boxing team, helping Jimmy Peau to gold in the heavyweight division.
‘‘Dad met up with the Welsh team again. Many of the officials were still the same. They had a great time and they gave dad another tie.’’
Barry still has the two ties his late father passed on to him and brought them to this fight as a mark of respect to his father and to the Welsh. He figured they might bring a little bit of luck too.