I CAN’T WAIT TO GET MY TEETH INTO JOSHUA!

He loves nothing more than eating raw fish but now Joseph Parker has a meatier challenge on his menu...

TARANTULAS, scorpions, centipedes and now Anthony Joshua — there is very little Joseph Parker doesn’t want to get his teeth into.

Amir Khan may have found solace in I’m A Celebrity but his Kiwi counterpart is one towering Bushtucker Trial.

‘I bit a fish’s head off and killed it,’ the WBO world heavyweight champion recalls, his face expressionless. ‘I caught the snapper, picked it up, took the hook off and it was shaking.’

How did that taste? ‘ F****** good,’ he says. ‘ Those boxers better be careful, man!’

For the next 11 weeks, only one thing, or one man, is on the Parker menu. The 26-year-old faces Britain’s IBF and WBA champion on March 31 in Cardiff, with the first clash of two heavyweight belt holders on these shores promising to be a ferocious battle of young, hungry and unbeaten fighters.

Yet away from the ring Parker is a man of serene pleasures. ‘I love playing the piano and guitar,’ he reveals. ‘ My favourite song on the guitar is probably Hotel

California. On the piano I play love songs and church songs.’

But the heavyweight, who is unbeaten with 24 wins, 18 by knockout, is rarely happier than when seeking fresh food. ‘I love raw fish,’ he says. ‘After winning the world title (against Andy Ruiz Jnr in December 2016) I bought my dad a boat — eight metres — and I’ve taken it out more than him!

‘ The last time I went fishing I caught a two-metre mako shark, a hammerhead shark, a kingfish ( and) a snapper.’

The New Zealander recalls one trip out to sea with some tourists when he devoured a live fish in front of them. ‘They looked at me like I was a weirdo,’ he says.

On one occasion, against advice, he ate a raw fish in Samoa and was left paralysed for three days, fearing his career was over.

He even has a picture on his phone of a ‘feast’ of crickets, centipedes, tarantulas and scorpions he devoured.

There is no doubt the money- spinning showdown against Joshua is a world away from his boxing beginnings under the tutelage of his father Dempsey, named after the great American heavyweight Jack.

‘When I was probably three or four years old, my dad used to go overseas for work and he would come back with pads, a little punchbag and gloves,’ Parker remembers. ‘He would give it to me and my little brother, John, and we used to punch it. He held the pads and would say, “Boys, this is your destiny!” ’

Eventually, Parker gave up his other sporting pursuits — rugby union, rugby league and volleyball — to focus on boxing. His admiration for his parents — Dempsey and mum Sala — is absolute. ‘Watching them work two or three different jobs a day shaped me to be the person that I am,’ Parker says.

He still gets told off by his mum when it comes to trash-talking opponents. ‘She’ll say, “Son, you shouldn’t have said this”, or “Son, be careful what you say next time”. If I have said something in the past it’s not because it’s me, it’s because it was a team effort because we all came up with a plan to attack someone. But it’s not my style.’

That is a trait shared by Joshua and at first glance they are two fighters with much in common. Both are likeable out of the ring and unbeaten inside it.

But their paths to the top could hardly have been more contrasting. While Parker learned the sport as a toddler, AJ, who has won all of his 20 fights by stoppage, didn’t lace gloves until his late teens.

And while Joshua came through Britain’s brilliant amateur set-up, Parker had to battle a chronic lack of money and opponents to reach the top.

‘When I was 16 I was fighting guys who were 20 and older and when I travelled the world representing New Zealand, they gave me no money for funding,’ he says. ‘My parents had to take out loans to pay for trips to India, Singapore. My coach took out a loan for me to go to Russia.’

Despite these difficulties, pursuing another career never crossed Parker’s mind. ‘I had many jobs. I worked at a newspaper company in New Zealand loading trucks, I worked at McDonald’s, I worked at a place in New Zealand making steel. But boxing was the thing that stole my heart,’ he says.

He now trains in Las Vegas, which has advantages. ‘In New Zealand there are a lot of distractions. When I’m in Vegas, no one knows who I am,’ he says. ‘I love being given time to myself.’

Nevada also provides the chance to learn from the best. ‘I’ve been to Floyd Mayweather’s gym when he was fighting Conor McGregor. We met him and watched him train,’ Parker says. Parker is the underdog against Joshua, but there are those, including Tyson Fury, who believe he will cause an upset.

The pair struck up an unlikely friendship, even performing the haka together after Parker beat Tyson’s cousin Hughie last September.

‘He’s so fun, relaxed, chilled and cool to hang out with,’ Parker says. ‘I still consider him a champion because he didn’t lose his belts and I think when he does come back, if I still have the belt, I would love to fight him.’

Fury could even play his own part in the Joshua showdown.

‘I might give him a text and say, “Bro, do you want to walk in with me?” I know I have a lot of support from Tyson, which is pretty awesome.’

Not that Parker appears daunted by the task ahead.

‘I don’t care if I win or lose, I just love the challenge of fighting someone like (Joshua). Champion against champion to see who the real champion is.

‘There’s no anger, hate, animosity. Everything is about fighting and being the best.’