Joshua’s weight issues revealed

Anthony Joshua is battling weight issues as he prepares to fight Joseph Parker in a boxing world heavyweight title unification fight.

Parker’s promoter David Higgins and Joshua’s boss Eddie Hearn had a productive meeting in London yesterday with a March 31 showdown appearing inevitable.

Gym-junkie Joshua has drawn increasing criticism for his weight gains and his trainer Rob McCracken admits he wants his fighter lighter to increase his movement and avoid ‘‘taking punishment’’ from Parker.

The 28-year-old Joshua fought at a career-high 115kg for his laboured win over Carlos Takam last October and McCracken wants him to enter the ring against Parker around 3kg lighter.

‘‘The emphasis is on being as quick as possible and taking as little punishment; [being] a bit lighter would allow him to do that,’’ McCracken told the BBC.

Parker is looking to do something similar and Joshua, like the Kiwi, has already taken measures to try to achieve that.

‘‘He’s a bit lighter [than he was in his last fight] at the minute, he’s probably eased off a bit on the conditioning side of things strength wise,’’ McCracken said.

‘‘We do 12 weeks for his fights so I can give him some days off during the camp here and there as we go. He’s done four weeks with me in London before Christmas – boxing and cardio – so he’s in good shape, sharper and a little bit leaner than he was of late.’’

Joshua apparently has a habit of adding weight just before fights and McCracken is looking at ways to avoid that for this massive occasion.

McCracken said the week leading into a fight, when Joshua eases his huge training load to rest, would be monitored ‘‘more strictly than we did in the past’’.

McCracken said it was about finding what was comfortable and effective for Joshua but he felt there was a need to develop his movement over the next phase of his career in a bid to be the dominant boxer in the division.

The BBC’s respected boxing analyst Steve Bunce added to the theory, suggesting Joshua had puffed up in the leadup to taking on Takam, a replacement opponent for the injured Kubrat Pulev.

‘‘I’m convinced Joshua gained 10lbs (4.5kg) in the last days of the Takam fight because he was fighting a totally different bloke,’’ Bunce said.

‘‘Against Pulev he’d have had to be a bit smarter or faster. Against Takam he knew he would just have to keep whacking him all night.’’

Bunce also warned that Joshua’s supposed physical advantages over Parker mightn’t be as dominant as many predict.

‘‘If we actually analyse Parker, there’s this misconception that he’s so much smaller, so much lighter and different to Joshua. I don’t think he is,’’ Bunce said.

‘‘One thing we overlook is his amateur pedigree – about six years on the circuit – fighting in major events all over the world. This guy built up a solid pedigree.

‘‘This time last year, these two weighed the same. There’s less than two inches between them. Parker has that thing that heavyweights absolutely need – a jab. There’s a lot more to this than the ‘Joshua the beast from Watford’ angle.’’

Parker and his trainer Kevin Barry have repeatedly questioned Joshua’s movement and ‘‘robotic’’ style, believing that makes him vulnerable.