Joshua easier than Fury - Barry

Trainer Kevin Barry believes Joseph Parker will find it easier fighting Anthony Joshua than he did disposing of Hughie Fury.

Barry made the eyebrowraising call after Parker struggled to put away Fury at the weekend, winning a majority decision in Manchester to retain his WBO heavyweight belt.

‘‘One thing is for sure,’’ Barry told The Guardian, ‘‘we won’t have to go looking for Joshua. He’s going to be right there in our face.’’

Parker’s chance to prove that premise could come sooner than expected with The Daily Mirror reporting that a Joshua-Parker clash is being targeted for July at London’s Wembley Stadium with negotiations between the two camps underway.

The stand-and-deliver style of Joshua would stand in stark contrast to the tactics employed by the twinkle-toed Fury, who danced away from Parker all night.

While it wasn’t quite the ‘‘shades of Ali’’ that his manager claimed, Fury certainly showed plenty of defensive skill. The big Brit’s problem was his total lack of threat on offence, which Barry said, caused Parker to go away from their gameplan.

‘‘I wanted Joe to work the double jab a lot more. We actually spent the whole training camp throwing thousands of body shots. Joe sort of went a wee bit away from that.‘‘

Now Parker is eyeing a warmup fight, possibly against Japan’s Kyotaro Fujimoto, before what he hopes will be a unification bout with IBF champion Joshua.

‘‘I think Joseph matches up very well against Joshua and styles make fights,’’ Barry told 5 Live Boxing.

‘‘I’ve also thought his particular style will suit us.’’

Joshua’s last appearance at Wembley Stadium, when he beat former champion Wladimir Klitschko in the fight of the year, drew a capacity crowd of roughly 90,000 to the huge outdoor venue.

Joshua must first get past Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev (25-1, 13 KOs) on October 28 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

The 27-year-old Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs) also owns the IBO and WBA championships.