Joshua vs Parker betting
#21
Mammoth London meeting moves $40m Parker v Joshua fight closer to reality

The scale of Joseph Parker's fight with Anthony Joshua is coming into perspective as their promoters get together in London to seal the deal.

Joseph Parker's heavyweight boxing world title unification fight with Anthony Joshua has taken significant steps forward after a productive meeting in London between their two promoters.

Parker's boss David Higgins met with Joshua's live-wire promoter Eddie Hearn for three hours on Wednesday (NZT) as they attempted to finalise the deal for the huge three-belt fight.

A buoyant Higgins emerged from that meeting to say: "We've had a very productive session, a very constructive meeting. We are heading in the right direction. It's not signed yet, we still have some outstanding issues. But we are getting closer and closer."

Joseph Parker's promoter David Higgins is hugely encouraged after a three-hour meeting with Anthony Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn.

Hearn's operations contract manager Frank Smith was also in attendance as they poured over the fight contract in detail.

This is new ground for Duco Boxing, a mammoth promotion and they are taking no risks.

"Effectively this is a co-promotion partnership, worth upwards of $40 million turnover. People wonder why this takes so long but it's such a big one-off event there is so much to look at," Higgins said.

"Don't forget this is two partners who haven't worked together before so you are starting a new relationship and setting parameters. We have been careful with the contract as you would expect."

Higgins has had his New Zealand lawyer involved and has used his United States connections at Bob Arum's respected Top Rank outfit also tp look at the contract.

He will now meet with Wladimir Klitschko's lawyer in London to have him look for any potential pitfalls, but Higgins is confident this fight will go ahead "because there is a desire and willingness from both sides to make that happen".

Higgins has another meeting with Hearn set up for Thursday (NZT) and Parker looks set to follow him north to promote the fight.

"Once we think it's 100 per cent, Joe will come up," Higgins said with flights provisionally booked before week's end.

Higgins and Hearn had also discussed how the fight would be promoted, especially with the adversarial atmosphere building between two boxers who were normally "quieter, humbler types".

Team Parker have publicly riled Joshua with their taunts about his supposed "glass chin" and potential mental weaknesses.

"It will be fascinating to see how they react when they meet face-to-face," Higgins said.

- Stuff
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#22
Anthony Joshua under strict orders to reduce weight and punishment risk against Joseph Parker

British heavyweight Anthony Joshua works out with his trainer Rob McCracken.

Anthony Joshua is battling weight issues as he prepares to fight Joseph Parker in a boxing world heavyweight title unification fight.

Parker's promoter David Higgins and Joshua's boss Eddie Hearn had a productive meeting in London on Wednesday (NZT) with a March 31 showdown appearing inevitable.

Gym-junkie Joshua has drawn increasing criticism for his weight gains and his trainer Rob McCracken admits he wants his fighter lighter to increase his movement and avoid "taking punishment" from Parker.

Joseph Parker, pictured with trainer Kevin Barry, has also been working on fitness and weight reduction to prepare him for a heavyweight unification fight.

The 28-year-old Joshua fought at a career-high 115kg for his laboured win over Carlos Takam last October and McCracken wants him to enter the ring against Parker around 3kg lighter.

"The emphasis is on being as quick as possible and taking as little punishment, [being] a bit lighter would allow him to do that," McCracken told the BBC.

Parker is looking to do something similar and Joshua, like the Kiwi, has already taken measures to try to achieve that.

"He's a bit lighter [than he was in his last fight] at the minute, he's probably eased off a bit on the conditioning side of things strength wise," McCracken said.

"We do 12 weeks for his fights so I can give him some days off during the camp here and there as we go. He's done four weeks with me in London before Christmas - boxing and cardio - so he's in good shape, sharper and a little bit leaner than he was of late."

Joshua apparently has a habit of adding weight just before fights and McCracken is looking at ways to avoid that for this massive occasion.

McCracken said the week leading into a fight, when Joshua eases his huge training load to rest, would be monitored "more strictly than we did in the past".

McCracken said it was about finding what was comfortable and effective for Joshua but he felt there was a need to develop his movement over the next phase of his career in a bid to be the dominant boxer in the division.

The BBC's respected boxing analyst Steve Bunce added to the theory, suggesting Joshua had puffed up in the leadup to taking on Takam, a replacement opponent for the injured Kubrat Pulev.

"I'm convinced Joshua gained 10lbs (4.5kg) in the last days of the Takam fight because he was fighting a totally different bloke," Bunce said.

"Against Pulev he'd have had to be a bit smarter or faster. Against Takam he knew he would just have to keep whacking him all night."

Bunce also warned that Joshua's supposed physical advantages over Parker mightn't be as dominant as many predict.

"If we actually analyse Parker, there's this misconception that he's so much smaller, so much lighter and different to Joshua. I don't think he is," Bunce said.

"One thing we overlook is his amateur pedigree - about six years on the circuit - fighting in major events all over the world. This guy built up a solid pedigree.

"This time last year, these two weighed the same. There's less than two inches between them. Parker has that thing that heavyweights absolutely need - a jab. There's a lot more to this than the 'Joshua the beast from Watford' angle."

Parker and his trainer Kevin Barry have repeatedly questioned Joshua's movement and "robotic" style, believing that makes him vulnerable.

- Stuff
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#23
3kg would make joshua 247. I think he should be looking at 240-245 at a maximum. We are yet to see the two face to face but comparing how they look v common opponents its a fair size difference, joshua is 245 at 10% bodyfat parker is the same at 16% bodyfat
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#24
[Image: auckland-new-zealand-20th-may-2016-new-z...G1Y2G5.jpg]

[Image: anthony-joshua-carlos-takam-boxing_4139768.jpg]

I do think size is a factor but we will see
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#25
Ye im keen to see the height next to each other as ive noticed parker keep his jandals off after weighing in.
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#26
It's the size that is Parker's biggest problem. Getting inside to land his shots. In saying that, Parker's big advantage is his sparring partner: Izu. Fights similar to AJ but moves better, same speed but less power. BUT, his reach is longer than AJ's.
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#27
I have to say, go listen to the steve bunce podcast from this week and then read that article from stuff again.

I mean talk about hyperbole.
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#28
What did Bunce say in his podcast? Pray tell.
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#29
It was where they wrote the article from.

It wasnt bunce it was what robert mcracken was saying about AJ's weight he basically said they are still tweaking it and think takam was a bit too heavy but will take a couple lb back off no big deal

But then the herald were like "joshua weight crisis"

He also said that aj is coming into his prime and they want to be agile so he doesnt take too much punishment (over the course of his career)

And the herald were like "aj doesnt wanna take punishment from parker"

Like they just twisted it out of context.

Steve bunce boxing podcast is free from the bbc every week and a good listen btw.
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#30
(01-10-2018, 07:24 PM)Infern0 Wrote: It was where they wrote the article from.

It wasnt bunce it was what robert mcracken was saying about AJ's weight he basically said they are still tweaking it and think takam was a bit too heavy but will take a couple lb back off no big deal

But then the herald were like "joshua weight crisis"

He also said that aj is coming into his prime and they want to be agile so he doesnt take too much punishment (over the course of his career)

And the herald were like "aj doesnt wanna take punishment from parker"

Like they just twisted it out of context.

Steve bunce boxing podcast is free from the bbc every week and a good listen btw.

Yeah, I see what you're saying. A shame really.

Question for you: I'm advocating that Parker stay just out of range of AJ's jab, and then do surprise attacks to get inside and try to nail him. I think AJ's "robotic" style is a positive, not a negative. It allows him to have a tight defense and to throw mostly straight punches. The counter to that is to surprise the robot, pop in, land, get out. Fast. Trying to win rounds, or just to outbox him, will lead to Joe getting beaten up. Joe needs to nail him in the first few rounds and get him outta there before AJ gets into his groove.

You know AJ's style well. Do you agree with me?
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