Wilder still eyeing up Joshua

Deontay Wilder wishes Joseph Parker all the best. But the fight the WBC heavyweight champion really wants is with Anthony Joshua.

Parker and Joshua are due to meet on April 1 (NZT) for the IBF, WBA Super, IBO and WBO titles. Wilder then lies in wait for the winner.

‘‘I’d be lying if I said I want Joseph Parker to win. But I wish Joseph Parker the best,’’ Wilder told Newshub. ‘‘But the reason that me and Joshua is a highly anticipated fight is that the world wants to see and it will bring the heavyweight division back to its top peak.

‘‘But anything can happen in boxing and we all have to keep in mind that the head isn’t meant to be hit in the first place, so if you get hit in a certain way you can go. This is a brutal sport.’’

If Parker were to upset Joshua, at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, then it would be partly Wilder’s doing. Joshua is regarded as more powerful and imposing than Parker, but that can work two ways. ‘‘Parker will also have to be mobile which I think he will do a pretty good job of. The things I’m telling you now I’ve told him before, because we talk,’’ said Wilder.

‘‘He is going to have to continue to punch while he moves and keep his head moving. If he can do that, he will see openings and see some of the weakness Joshua has.’’

Essentially, Wilder said, sometimes the bigger they are, the harder they fall.