Parker: How I can beat AJ

Angles, speed and movement – those are the three ingredients Joseph Parker believes he will need to beat Anthony Joshua in a heavyweight boxing world title unification fight he wants sorted out by Christmas.

WBO champion Parker is in negotiations with IBF and WBA champion Anthony Joshua for a blockbuster bout in Britain in late March.

Talks have been long and difficult but Parker says they are now ‘‘very close’’ to making the fight a reality.

Parker is already working on a game plan and laying the foundations with his current fitness camp in Auckland where weight loss is a key as he tries to regain the speed that set him apart.

‘‘Coming into the fight I will be a lot lighter. I think angles ... angles and speed.

``Joshua is a big guy with a lot of power who comes forward and chase you down, but if I give him angles and movement it will give him a bit of trouble so that’s what I’m looking to do,’’ Parker told T2T Boxing as he did the media rounds in Brisbane midweek where he attended Duco stablemate Jeff Horn’s WBO world title welterweight defence.

‘‘I’ve moved away from that and I need to get it back,’’ he added of some struggles over his last three fights.

Parker is confident the Joshua deal will get done. He has been holding out for a 35 per cent cut of the profit while Joshua only wants to give away 30 per cent to the Kiwi.

‘‘The fight with Joshua is very close. We’ve had a bit of a pause as we find middle ground where both teams are happy,’’ Parker said.

‘‘But I think we’ve come to a conclusion ... we’re just going to tidy things up, lock it in and get the fight going.

‘‘We want to lock something in before Christmas, so we can all have a holiday and enjoy it and then hit camp.’’

Parker made light of his social media attacks on Joshua that have been designed to raise Parker’s presence in the UK and also give the potential unification bout increased profile.

‘‘It’s a bit of banter, it’s a bit of fun. I’ve said many times I respect him as a fighter and I respect him as a champion and I look forward to when we clash ... I think it’s going to be a great fight,’’ the 25-year-old Parker said

Parker’s trainer Kevin Barry said the sport needed this fight.

``It’s been seven years since we’ve had a unification fight in the heavyweight division and boxing needs a fight like this,’’ Barry told T2T Boxing.