Joshua’s ‘glass chin’ targeted
Joseph Parker has come out swinging, claiming his ‘‘sole mission is to smash to bits the man with the glass chin’’, heavyweight boxing championship rival Anthony Joshua.
The Kiwi fighter made the claim to the Daily Telegraph en route to London, where he hopes to secure a contract to face Joshua in a $40m-plus promotion tipped for March 31 in Cardiff where Parker could earn more than $13m.
Parker and his handlers have been peddling the glass-chin line consistently and the 26-year-old made no apologies in his Telegraph interview, saying: ‘‘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,’’ Parker said. ‘‘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.
‘‘I won’t be letting him off the hook. If I get him in the trouble Klitschko had him in, there is no chance for him. I’ll go in fast, I’ll go in hard, and I’ll go in for the kill. He won’t be able to recover against me.’’
Parker also scoffed at Joshua’s record of 20 knockout wins in 20 professional bouts.
‘‘The truth is that all the fights he has had from the beginning [of his career] have been in his favour, and he’s had everything his way.
‘‘I think if my team had not come up with a plan we wouldn’t be talking about this fight coming up.’’
Parker, the WBO heavyweight champion, has knocked out 18 opponents in his 24 victories, but failed to put Hughie Fury away in his last fight at Manchester last October. However, it wouldn’t be an upset if he beat IBF and WBA champion Joshua, he told the Telegraph.
‘‘I feel if I win it will not be a shock. I do think it is my time and I’ll come there confident in my ability. I genuinely believe I can knock him out and there is no pressure where I’m standing right now. There is no expectation on me, no pressure.
‘‘All I’m focused on is being in great shape, training hard and doing my best to knock him out and catch his glass jaw,’’ he said.
‘‘This is my sole mission: to smash to bits the man with the glass chin. Our team has come up with this feeling and this theory that he has a glass chin and my goal is to smash his glass chin, crack it and see if he can withstand the punches that are coming his way. I really can’t wait for this fight.’’