Nothing beats Parker v AJ at Principality Stadium
Joseph Parker v Anthony Joshua in a word: Huge! This is the biggest moment in New Zealand’s rich sporting history. Put aside the possible outcomes and visualise Parker walking into the ring in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium in front of 80,000 screaming fans.
It has to match the anticipation of any World Cup finals the All Blacks and Black Caps have started, the hotly contested America’s Cup finals, the last rounds of majors Kiwis have had a shot in, or those increasingly frequent medal moments when our athletes have contested Olympic finals.
It must be bigger than David Tua’s 2000 heavyweight title bout against Lennox Lewis, despite both those fighters being arguably better than the current Kiwi and Brit who glove up on March 31 with not two, but three, titles on the line and one of those already belonging to 26-year-old Parker.
Suddenly Parker finds himself engulfed in the massive hype that is Joshua, whose publicity machine, personable manner, imposing figure and perfect record of 20 consecutive knockouts have turned him into a global phenomenon.
New Zealand’s best rugby players know the atmosphere generated under the roof in Cardiff. But this isn’t a rugby field, this is a 30 square metre piece of canvas with two men involved in the most basic of sports. Talk about being in the spotlight!
Factor in the biggest single payout in our sporting history – a $40m-plus promotion where Parker’s side of the equation amounts to more than $12m - and the scale goes right through the very roof they will fight under.
This will be a moment that stops a nation and will be watched by a truly global audience.
There’s a fascination with boxing at this very highest level that draws in the usually uninterested and even the uninitiated.
It’s not a sport complicated by too many rules. Put aside the subjective judging system that sometimes taints it, boxing is basically two fighters trying to batter the other into submission. It’s not hard to understand – it’s been going on since cavemen days, a gladiatorial contest that even the squeamish can’t resist.
The famous boxing cliche that every fighter has a puncher’s chance never rings more true than when the big bangers of the heavyweight division collide.
Parker has that and a bit more. At his best he’s a skilful fighter and a clever tactician who, crucially, has a chin that hasn’t yet let him down because no one has been able to put him down.
Can Joshua? That’s the sort of fascination that will envelope this promotion in the next 11 weeks.
But it’s the fascination of fight night in Cardiff that will consume a nation at the other end of the world on an autumn Sunday morning.
It’s New Zealand versus England, the colony versus the former ruler of the empire that adds to the occasion.
The All Blacks will finally line up against England in London towards the end of the year to reconvene a rivalry that has been ridiculously sidelined in this World Cup cycle.
That will be big. But this is huge.