Joseph Parker’s team have warned Anthony Joshua how big a mistake it is for the reigning WBA/IBF heavyweight champ to look past the WBO ruler towards a massive fight with Deontay Wilder, the WBC king. As big and important as the Joshua-Parker fight is, it’s undeniable how fans really want that big one: a unification between AJ and Wilder.
Joshua is expected, by most, to come through the Parker fight of March 31 and then go into the guaranteed shoot-out that is the Wilder clash. Team-Parker say this will not be the case, though, and that it will be the New Zealand warrior who emerges from the Cardiff collision with three belts and then heads into a massive fight with Wilder. In truth, whoever wins on March 31, if he next goes in with Wilder in a huge, for-all-the belts-unification, it will be big, big, big.
But which fighter, AJ or Parker, would you feel most assured betting on to hand Wilder his first loss? Joshua has the power yet, according to some, not the bulletproof chin that is needed to safely navigate a battle with the lethal-hitting Wilder. While Parker has the solid chin yet, according to some, not the raw punching power needed to do what Luis Ortiz almost did and take Wilder out before “The Bronze Bomber” scores with one or two or three of his own wild yet lethal haymakers.
Proven punch or proven chin: which has the better shot when it comes to humbling the self-proclaimed best and most dangerous heavyweight on the planet? Chances are we will find out a fair bit more about Joshua and Parker at the very end of the month, and we will also hopefully have one enormous heavyweight unification showdown to look forward to this year.
Whether it’s Parker or whether it’s Joshua on March 31, it doesn’t matter, as long as we get to see the winner face Wilder ASAP. Of course, we might have to wait a while for that fight if Parker wins in Cardiff, as AJ has that rematch clause. Still, in an ideal world, we will have an undisputed heavyweight king in the next ten to 12 months. Hopefully
