Joshua takes it on the chin as Team Parker breaks his trance
EMMA KEELING
OPINION: The media stared at the door and then back to their phones, waiting for the enemy to appear and the show to begin.
What would the newest threat to British boxing bring to the press conference table? When would the dirty, disrespectful trash talk begin? Who did he think he was and who was he anyway? Would they find out who ate all the pies? And speaking of which, would lunch be provided? As the Kiwi upstart leaned in to the microphone, one reporter in the crowd whispered, ‘‘Here we go’’.
I felt bad for them. It wasn’t one of David Higgins’ best performances. After his show stopping ‘‘was he drunk?’’ entrance into the Joseph Parker/ Hughie Fury press conference last year, the British media could smell a lead story in the air.
But no, disappointingly the word respect kept being brought up, ruining the tension. Joseph Parker’s promoter was behaving himself because this was the big, big time. You could tell by the size of the chandelier hanging over our heads in the Orchid room at the five star Dorchester Hotel.
The china cups they served the coffee in were exquisite but we were here for the boxing or the talking about the boxing. There was a lot of that. There was a lot of media too and was streaming it live.
Anthony Joshua snuck in the side door in a black track suit and black cap pulled down low. Was he ready to rumble?
Parker wasn’t. He was dressed in a suit, sitting quietly between his trainer Kevin Barry and his promoter Higgins, looking calm but slightly distracted. Maybe he was thinking about lunch because he did tell the crowd he loved the food and the people in London. That got a snigger. They knew about Parker and his love of pies.
It’s not surprising the biggest trash talk of this fight so far has come from a talk show host.
Both fighters would rather walk the walk but Graham Norton owned all the talk when he suggested to his guest Joshua on last week’s show that Parker had been spending too much time at the bakery. That was a king hit on Parker who laughed it off but then gave himself an uppercut by suggesting Joshua had been munching on steroids. Does he regret it? ‘‘It was the first thing that popped into my head. One of those joking things.’’
Lucky for him it didn’t turn into one of those fine or suspension things. He’s got more than enough trouble banging on his changing room door.
At the other end of the table Joshua seemed in a trance or maybe he was mesmerised by the lights reflecting off his title belts. Staring straight ahead, he never looked at Parker when he spoke. He may have been thinking about pies although after 20 fights and 20 knockouts, he doesn’t look like he’s had one in a long time.
Joshua’s trance was broken by Higgins, who’d been quietly jabbing away with the word respect before throwing a right hook, stating Joshua had been dropped a few times. It certainly got the 28 year-old’s attention. Joshua went into a long explanation of those times he’d met the canvas, which seemed unnecessary from a man with such a fine record. Could it be Higgins’ had found a sore point?
Higgins is fighting above his weight class in the UK but he’s learning fast.
Dwarfed by Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn whose voice dripped with sarcasm when he said he was looking forward to ‘‘hearing from him later’’. It got a laugh and the eager media didn’t have to wait long before Higgins unleashed another flurry of observations about Joshua’s mental weakness and glass chin.
‘‘Don’t’ tell me tell him, he’s right here!’’ responded a bemused Hearn. A sane man may have thought twice and maybe Higgins did but he didn’t get a seat at this press conference without making a lot of noise and he continued to throw the punches on behalf of his fighter.
Joshua brushed it all off as a PR stunt and warned that it will take ‘‘more than a human’’ to defeat him. Just to be on the safe side, I checked with the London Zoo and they said no-one by the name of David Higgins had called.
On March 31, Parker will walk out in front of 80,000 people at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. We all know what happened to the Black Caps in the 2015 World Cup final when they moved from the small ground of New Zealand to the MCG to face Australia. Parker cannot afford to spill that much blood.
His trainer Kevin Barry calls it a career defining fight just as Joshua’s defeat of Wladimir Klitschko was his and yet the 26-year-old Parker insists it’s just another fight and he’ll wave to the crowd. I guess even if Parker loses his undefeated title, our ‘friendly kiwi’ brand will still be intact.
Parker believes this is his destiny. ‘‘This is what I was born to do.’’ He’s always said he would be the champion of the world and he believes he can win even if the bookies don’t, giving him 9/1 odds.
He admits destiny is a big, loaded word. ‘‘Maybe I should use something else. Have you got any ideas?’’ No I haven’t.
But I can see a tall opponent with a long reach and big, gloved hands in his future. I can also see pies becoming the new superfood of athletes.
For the sake of Parker’s waistline and his career, I hope his crystal ball is more reliable than mine.