Higgins: Joshua is talking dumb

Joseph Parker’s promoter David Higgins says Anthony Joshua’s talk is dumb and he questions the British boxer’s humility.

WBO champion Parker and IBF and WBA champion Joshua clash in Cardiff on April 1. Joshua said on Thursday he didn’t like Parker, calling him ‘‘weird’’. He also accused Higgins of ‘‘backstabbing’’ in securing the fight deal.

Higgins was quick to fire back when pressed on the issue on Friday (NZT).

‘‘Eddie [Hearn, Joshua’s promoter] and I did a lot of talking and we made a deal. It’s a good deal, everyone is happy. Now it is about Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker, not Eddie Hearn or David Higgins. So I don’t know why he is worrying about me.’’

Higgins wondered if Joshua was losing his focus.

‘‘I haven’t heard him once critique the strengths and weaknesses of Joseph Parker which is what we have been doing [of Joshua] and been criticised for it.’’Higgins led a controversial campaign by Team Parker to force the hand of the British camp where they constantly questioned Joshua’s ‘‘glass chin’’.

Joshua’s boss Hearn had suggested Higgins and Parker failed to back up that talk when they came to London in January for a public announcement once the fight was confirmed.

‘‘First I wasn’t talking trash, I was talking fact about Joshua’s jaw, he has been dropped. That’s not trash, it’s fact,’’ Higgins said on Friday.

‘‘Second, that was to get the deal done. Once the deal is done, there’s no more need. My job is done, this is about Joseph Parker and Anthony Joshua.’’

But Higgins couldn’t resist firing another salvo at Joshua when he learned that the big Brit had snubbed New Zealand and Samoan journalists at his Sheffield training base on Thursday (NZT).

‘‘Make your own mind up. Some people are humble and some people pretend to be humble. Let the public make their own mind up,’’ Higgins said.