AJ’s rival Parker had secret op
JOSEPH PARKER is going into his world heavyweight title fight with Anthony Joshua only 12 weeks after elbow surgery, it has emerged. However, Parker’s trainer Kevin Barry claimed the WBO champion will now punch harder and faster as a result of operations on both elbows. Barry said: ‘We have not been hiding this but now it’s come out I can tell Joshua that Joe will be a different animal from the one he saw taken the distance by Hughie Fury.’ Parker was in pain for two years before having his left elbow repaired in November, then the right before
Christmas. Barry said: ‘There were chips of bone floating in both joints, stress in the sockets and severe calcification of the bones in those areas.’ Joshua, who holds the IBF, IBO and WBA titles, is favourite to win the fight, but Barry said: ‘The Joseph Parker you saw against Fury will not be the man you’ll meet in the ring in Cardiff on March 31. He is now punching as heavily as Joshua.’