Joshua: Self-doubt stopped me from KOing Parker
Anthony Joshua has explained why he couldn’t knock out Joseph Parker during their world heavyweight unification fight.
Joshua beat Parker by unanimous points in Cardiff on April 1 to add the Kiwi’s WBO belt to his IBF and WBA versions.
It was the first time in 21 fights the 28-year-old British boxing star had failed to knock out an opponent. Joshua admitted the prefight hype from Team Parker around his supposed ‘‘glass chin’’ and talk of the Kiwi’s wide range of skills had him doubting his own abilities.
There was also the distraction of the ongoing talk around a bigger fight with American Deontay Wilder. Joshua decided it was better to play it safe against the Kiwi and adopt a more conservative approach, turning to his boxing skills rather than his noted power.
‘‘When people were telling me, ‘Parker is quick you know, he can fight,’ I was thinking, ‘He can, I’m going to get banged out in this fight’,’’ Joshua told a chat session with fans in London.
‘‘It was a hard situation I found myself in because I was fighting (Parker) but everyone was already talking about the next two fights (Wilder and Tyson Fury) so everyone is thinking I’m going to walk through these guys. I started having pressure on myself and I didn’t want to make any mistakes.
‘‘I think I sacrificed my boxing entertainment, that risk-it-all mindset I had. Looking back at my last fight, I lost it in that fight because I was so focused on just boxing performance – hit, don’t get hit and control the fight – and there were times in there where I thought, ‘Ah let me explode on this guy’ then (I thought), ‘Whoa, whoa, I have to think about Wilder next, let me get back to doing what I’m doing’ and in a way it was good because now when Wilder steps up, I’m going to take it to him hard.’’
It’s a mark of respect for Parker that Joshua was prepared to rein in his power game and be content to try to fight from the outside behind his significant reach advantage, using a dominant jab.
‘‘For 20 fights I catered for the knockout audience and I said for this one (Parker) I’m going to cater for the boxing experts, stick behind my jab and do it the oldschool way,’’ Joshua said.
‘‘And as important as it was to capture the WBO belt, looking back I wish I knocked him out. But then it’s set up what’s to come next and I’m learning on the job and I’m going to risk it all now.’’
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn is eager to move forward with negotiations with Wilder’s handlers in an effort to sort out a fight that will finally determine an undisputed world champion in the heavyweight ranks.
With Wilder’s powerful but unpredictable approach in the ring, Joshua is already suggesting he will look to fight fire with fire.
‘‘I’m going to go back to fighting with my heart because even I find it boring boxing. I want to just go back to being a bit more gutter and going to war,’’ Joshua said.
‘‘I think that’s entertaining but it’s difficult because you don’t want to lose your belt but at the same time you want to entertain.’’
"Even I find it boring boxing. I want to just go back to being a bit more gutter and going to war." Anthony Joshua