Joseph Parker vs Anthony Joshua: The Talk Talk Talk-ing Has Begun
Prepare yourself for a massive heavyweight slug-fest. The boxing world will be watching with fascination, the boxing media will be dangling on a string. And hopefully once David Higgins and Eddie Hearn are done with all that they’ll be able to book that Anthony Joshua vs Joseph Parker fight that we’re all waiting for.
Right now it’s all talk… all talk and one conveniently slapped together video montage. But that was enough for Higgins, along with Kevin Barry and The Champ, to hold a quickfire press conference the other day with the intention of putting a bit of pressure back on Anthony Joshua’s camp. After all, AJ has said all along that he wants to unify the belts, right?
Sure but he’s already unified two of them. He beat Wladimir Klitschko, if you recall. Knocked the legend out in fact. Klitschko may not have had any belts to bring to that one but the WBA weren’t putting their vacant one on the line for anyone else there. Technically it was a unification bout, hence why AJ was able to postpone his mandatory defence (which he took care of in beating Carlos Takam in October). And it’s not like Joshua doesn’t have options either - there’s also Deontay Wilder out there talking very loudly about his own wishes to unify.
Basically the Parker Camp can say whatever they want but the decision here is up to Joshua, Hearn and Matchroom Boxing. It certainly sounds like they’re keen enough to fight Parker, then moving on to Wilder afterwards if things go as they plan, but why give up their high-ground in the bargaining process for a bit of admirable whimsy? Nah, they’re milking this thing as they should. See what envelopes get slid across the table. Already they’ve dragged Duco down from 40% of the purse to a 35% offer just by playing hard to get.
Dangerous Dave Higgins @ Duco’s Impromptu Presser: “In good faith we have moved down from our opening 40 percent position. This demonstrates we genuinely want to unify and will put it all on the line. Our revised non-negotiable bottom line is 35 percent of net profit.”
Yeah, you tell ‘em Dave! 35% and not a fraction less. Final offer. No backsees. Take it or leave it. Oh and while we’re at it here’s a video of casually sourced film of Anthony Joshua getting knocked down, along with the reminder that Joseph Parker’s never been dropped. Have some.
Amidst all of this bluster it’s easy to overlook the fact that Parker and his lot even want this fight at all. Joe might be equally undefeated but nothing about his last couple fights suggested world domination. A lot of that wasn’t his fault, granted. Razvan Cojanu and Hughie Fury came out looking to spoil the fight to give themselves the best chance. In Hughie’s case he was even good enough to land a couple of counters and convince a few of his fans that the judges had swung and missed, although the general consensus was that the result was spot on even if one of the scorecards was wonky.
Yet now he’s lining up the best in the business? Umm… sure. Anthony Joshua wasn’t flawless in beating Carlos Takam either and for the first time that meant the two had an opponent in common. You always have to be wary of anything that comes out of the camps in these situations – in boxing more than anything else… except maybe politics – but if Joe Parker thought that he saw something there that he could exploit then… why not?
That silly video suggests they reckon it’s Joshua’s defence, his chin, that they wanna get at. More likely it’s the same question that AJ has managed to dodge with his regular knockout victories: what happens when he comes up against someone who can withstand the power? Wladimir Klitchsko was almost that guy. He had AJ on the canvas in that fight before getting KO’d late and nobody can argue that that was peak Wlad. In fact it was at least two years removed from peak Wlad, depending on where you wanna draw the line. Parker sparred with Klitchsko fairly substantially too, he knows where Wlad was at.
Genuine question: Have you ever seen Joseph Parker rocked? He’s had subpar performances and close decisions but he’s never been properly hurt in the ring. It’s the inverse of the Joshua thing, when you think about it. Joshua’s knocked out every bloke who’s stepped in to fight him as a pro but perhaps he’s never fought someone good enough to withstand him. Just as how Parker’s never been rocked but he’s also arguably never fought someone who could drop him either. Cojanu sure wasn’t gonna. Takam and Ruiz were beasts but neither overwhelmingly powerful. And Fury doesn’t rely on his strength to win him fights, that’s for sure.
Joshua vs Parker though, that’d give each of them the challenge that they’re looking for. Obviously only one theory can prevail: either Joshua drops Parker or he doesn’t. And that, dear friends, is exactly what makes the prospect so fascinating… and why Duco are trying to make that the focus of this prospective bout. They want fans to come out and demand this thing. It’s their way of trying to force the hands of Joshua/Hearn/Matchroom/The Sport of Boxing.
Then again, Eddie ‘Hot-Shot’ Hearn wasn’t so impressed: “You've got to love this David Higgins - he is absolutely off his swede. We are getting closer on a deal, but holding a press conference in a broom cupboard with a promotional video that looks like it's been done by my eight-year-old daughter is not the one, in terms of justifying your commercial value.”
Bro, get back on your Swede. Eddie’s noticed.
Hopefully that 35% is only as non-negotiable as the original 40% because the impression is that the two parties are getting closer and closer to making this happen. Whether or not it does is all about the backroom agreements though. The phone calls and the emails… not the press conferences. The stuff that happens for our ‘amusement’ is theatre. The money will take care of itself and eventually Duco are gonna have to concede some more because AJ has all of the commercial weight here, plus the home advantage. And the extra belt. That’ll all happen soon enough, they need this fight more than AJ does and they reckon they’ve got reason to believe they’ll win.
Plus the difference between 30% and 35% might not matter if they can drive the interest in this thing up there. Ideally for both lads is they make this into a proper rivalry, something that’ll resonate beyond England and Aotearoa. Initially that ain’t gonna make enough cash for anyone on Duco’s payroll to retire on quite yet but, hey, that’s what rematch clauses are for, right?
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