Parker may lose his head: Hearn
Eddie Hearn has thrown the mind games back at Joseph Parker, questioning the Kiwi heavyweight’s chin and artillery for a unification fight with Anthony Joshua.
He also wonders if Parker can handle the pressures that will come with a stadium fight where the crowd could number around 80,000.
Hearn and Parker’s promoter David Higgins are locked in final negotiations for the fight. They have a contract in place and are just working on the final details to sign it with Higgins likely to head to London this week to sort that out.
Parker and Higgins have aggressively pursued Joshua to flush him out, repeatedly claiming the
WBA and IBF champion has a ‘‘glass chin’’ and is susceptible to being floored.
Hearn did more than dismiss that – he turned it around on Parker, the WBO belt holder.
‘‘People talk about Joseph Parker’s chin like he has this great chin. The truth is we have no idea about Joseph Parker’s chin because he has never been hit by a bigpunching heavyweight,’’ Hearn told the Sunday Star Times.
‘‘Carlos Takam is not a puncher, he’s a strong man; Razvan Cojanu, you can’t really take any notice of; Andy Ruiz is not really a big puncher; Hughie Fury certainly isn’t.
‘‘If Joseph Parker has a great chin, this could be the fight of the year. But let’s see how he reacts when he gets hit on the chin by Anthony Joshua. That’s the fascinating thing.’’
Hearn argued that Joshua’s gutsy win over Wladimir Klitschko showed the strength of his jaw as he survived a sixth round knockdown to get up and beat the former champion.
‘‘He had to come through hell in that fight, come off the floor from a right hand that would have decked everybody in the division,’’ Hearn said.
Hearn felt the size of the event would test Parker’s composure, examinations Joshua had come through against Klitschko at Wembley (90,000 attendance) and Takam in Cardiff (78,000).
‘‘Can Parker deal with the pressure? That’s only something we will find out on the night. He will never have or never will experience anything like this. Only the special fighters are capable of experiencing it and rising above it and actually performing.
‘‘I don’t think Parker will crumble but will he lose his head? Quite possibly. If he doesn’t and he can execute his game plan, then he may be a very special talent. I think Parker is a lot better fighter than he has looked in his last couple of fights, everybody in boxing knows that. But can he execute that performance under this sort of pressure? That’s what everybody’s asking, because we know AJ can.’’
Stylistically, Hearn believes the fight could be a cracker with the two monsters liking to go at it toeto-toe.
‘‘It’s a very dangerous fight for both fighters, they have great styles for each other. Joseph Parker and his team will fancy this fight because he will know that AJ likes to stand and trade and get hit.
‘‘Both fighters can punch and they may get hurt. But I just feel AJ’s punching power and speed is underrated and I’m not sure whether Parker has the artillery to do enough damage if there is a gunfight.’’ pB4