12 essentials for 12 pivotal rounds
Like any major boxing match there are more questions than answers until the two fighters step into the ring.
There are many considerations hanging over the world heavyweight unification fight between New Zealand’s Joseph Parker and Britain’s Anthony Joshua.
Will it be over in the blink of an eye or could it possibly go the full 12 rounds? What will contribute to the result?
Here are a dozen facts and issues to ponder:
1. WHERE AND WHEN?
The fight takes place at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on April 1 (NZT). It will be an Easter Sunday morning affair for New Zealand viewers. Don’t expect Parker and Joshua to be in the ring before
9am.
There’s a strong undercard that features Kiwi super middleweight Mose Auimatagi Jr who fights Welshman Morgan Jones. The fight will be broadcast in New Zealand on Sky’s pay-per-view Arena (channel 65) at a cost of
$49.95. Easter trading laws are set to limit some commercial venues screening the fight.
2. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
These two young unbeaten heavyweights have been on a collision course for some time. Watford-born Joshua, 28, has gone 20-0 since turning pro after winning gold at the 2012 Olympics. He’s got two of the four world titles and Parker, who turned pro a year earlier and is 24-0 has one belt, so they finally agreed to fight after a long and sometimes heated negotiation process.
3. WHAT’S WITH ALL THESE BELTS?
Boxing has got increasingly crowded since huge money came into the game and rival organisations were set up, looking to cash in. There are four major organisations – the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Organisation (WBO) and World Boxing Council (WBC).
There is finally a determination to try to unify all the belts and find one true world champion. Joshua holds the WBA and IBF belts and Parker has the WBO title so, unless there’s a draw in Cardiff, one fighter will walk away with three belts. That would leave American Deontay Wilder, the WBC champ, to come to the party.
4. BIG FIGHT, BIG MONEY
Of course there’s cash to go with the hardware. As much as they like strapping those glitzy belts around their waists, these guys like watching their bank accounts grow too. Parker’s promoter David Higgins did a great job getting his fighter a deal to reflect his value.
Originally offered just 10 per cent by Joshua’s promoter, Higgins haggled his way to get about a third of the deal for this superfight. Reports suggest Parker’s cut is worth around $13m/
5. WORLD RECORD CROWD
There’s talk of 80,000 crowding under the roof the Principality Stadium, formerly known as Millennium Stadium, and that would set a world record for an indoor attendance to a boxing match. Joshua set the record when he beat Carlos Takam at the same venue last October with 78,000 people in attendance. He erased some serious history there with the previous indoor record being the 63,315 who turned up at the New Orleans Superdome in 1978 to watch Muhammad Ali regain the heavyweight title for the second time by beating Leon Spinks in a rematch.
There’s still a way to go to beat the world outdoor record attendances for boxing matches 135,000 watched Tony Zale fight Billy Pryor at Juneau Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1941 for free. Joshua had around 90,000 turn up to watch him beat former champion Wladimir Klitschko early last year.
6. WHO’S THE FAVOURITE?
The bookies are leaning towards Joshua so heavily they’ve made him almost unbackable with the New Zealand TAB listing him at $1.12 to Parker’s $5.50 in head-tohead betting. Those odds are pretty much the same as the British market. A Joshua KO is the favoured method, paying $1.30 with a points decision to him listed at $5.50. Parker is paying $7 for a KO win and $16 for a points victory. If you like a draw, it’s going at $26.
7. WHO HAS THE POWER?
The fury in Joshua’s fists is undeniable. He has stopped every fighter put in front of him. He has one-punch dynamite but generally finishes opponents with combinations. He would have to enjoy an edge here, though Parker is no slug with 18 KOs in his unbeaten run of 24 fights.
The worry for Parker is that as the class of his opponents has increased, he has struggled to finish them early. His last three fights have all been 12-round wars. There’s value in that, but there’s nothing like a KO to boost confidence and the Kiwi hasn’t had one since September 2016 when he demolished Alexander Dimitrenko.
8. IS THERE A COMMON DENOMINATOR?
The only fighter that Parker and Joshua have both fought is rugged Frenchman Carlos Takam. Parker earned a unanimous points decision against Takam over 12 rounds in mid-2016, a result that signalled him as a serious title contender, and that’s a prophecy he has now filled. Takam was Joshua’s last opponent and the Cameroon-born slugger proved to be one of his toughest. Joshua was severely criticised for struggling to a 10th round TKO last October, a stoppage that angered the massive crowd with Takam still firing shots when the ref stepped in. You can look at that two ways – Joshua’s struggles could be attributed to a last-minute change in preparations and strategies or Takam never had a show, coming in on two weeks notice yet still managing to frustrate the champion with his durability.
9. IS JOSHUA AS BIG AS HE LOOKS?
The Brit is a serious specimen. At
1.98m he edges Parker by 5cm in height. His real advantage comes in his reach, crucial in boxing. Joshua has a 2.08m wingspan compared to Parker’s 1.93m. Basically Joshua can use that to taunt Parker with his jab, forcing the Kiwi to try to get on the inside.
Joshua also looks massive because of his chiselled frame. He was a bodybuilder before he took up boxing at the age of 18 and has retained his love of a six-pack stomach, building muscles and spending plenty of time in the gym. There has been criticism that he has become muscle-bound and it has affected his fighting style. He’s reportedly coming in lighter for this fight than the career-high
115.6kg he laboured with against Takam. So is Parker, looking to drop from 112kg to around 107kg and regain some of his hand and foot speed. Parker mightn’t be ripped like his opponent but he always looks more than respectable when he hits the scales at weigh-in time.
10. WHAT’S A CHIN GOT TO DO WITH ALL THIS?
When they talk about a boxer’s chin or jaw, they are referencing a fighter’s ability to take a punch. There have been question marks around Joshua in this area, a fact highlighted by Team Parker as they kept referencing it in their attempts to get a fight deal done, basically angering Joshua into taking on the Kiwi. This wasn’t just trash talk, they were uttering truths - Joshua has been floored in fights and sparring. But he has also got off the canvas to spectacularly beat Wladimir Klitschko and survived some wobbles to get the same result against Dillian Whyte.
Meanwhile, Parker has shown his ability to take a punch. He’s never been down as an amateur or professional in sparring or a real fight. That gives him real encouragement though he has never been hit by a punch like Joshua packs.
11. IS THIS REALLY AS BIG AS IT’S BILLED?
You can be sure that a fair share of New Zealand will be watching this or eager to find the result. It’s arguably the biggest one-off sports event of the year for Kiwis, much the way David Tua’s title fight with Lennox Lewis in 2000 was. Parker brings Samoa with him too, the island birth-place of his parents has declared a national day of prayer in his honour.
Joshua’s drawing power is undeniable, he has brought a whole new crowd to the sport in the UK. They mightn’t know the subtleties of the sweet science that boxing is called but can smell blood and like seeing it dished out by a smiling assassin. And while Parker has Pacific power, Joshua, with his Nigerian roots, has the might of Africa behind him. But this is a global event, the three belts insist it can’t be ignored by boxing fans around the world.
12. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
That depends on the result. If Parker can upset the odds and get a win, there is a rematch clause. That would be an even bigger pay day for Parker whose boss has negotiated a 55 per cent split of the sequel. If Joshua wins on April 1 then everything points to him taking on Wilder with all four of the major belts on the line. That would obviously be massive. But Wilder needs to get realistic with his monetary demands to make that happen.