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Team Parker: Joshua Lost Mental War, Glass Jaw Always Exposed

David Higgins, promoter for WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) is confident that his boxer will break the jaw of IBF, IBO, WBA champion Anthony Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs).

BoxingScene.com reported on Wednesday that both sides finally reached an agreement on the financial split - which for weeks was stuck at 65-35 in favor of Joshua. Parker will receive somewhere between 30 and 35%.

For months, Parker and Higgins have been verbally assaulting Joshua from every corner.

Higgins believes they have mentally broken Joshua, based on some of the comments he's read from the British boxer.

"We think they're making a big mistake putting Joshua in against Parker," Higgins told 1 NEWS.

"I think Joseph Parker has won the first round, which is the mental battle. Joshua's saying some strange things in the media. He's rattled, he's not used to it."

Higgins, Parker have also campaigned in the press about Joshua's ability to take a punch.

They believe Joshua has a very weak chin, that will certainly get exposed when they collide - on a date in late March or early April in the UK. The actual date and venue should be revealed in the coming weeks.

A press conference was even held in New Zealand last month, when Parker and Higgins presented video footage to local reporters with respect to Joshua's ability to take a punch.

"Joshua has a glass jaw - he's been flattened in nearly every training camp. Parker has never been knocked down," Higgins said.

To get Parker the best deal possible, and to reach an agreement with Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom, Higgins retained the services of a UK lawyer who worked with Wladimir Klitschko for his April fight agreement with Joshua.

"Just to be doubly sure that Joseph Parker is looked after, I've found the lawyer in London who acted for [former heavyweight champion] Wladimir Klitschko in [his fight with Joshua] and he’s going to deal a final look over the contract to make sure Joseph Parker is well looked after," Higgins said.
Eddie Hearn hits back at Joseph Parker, questioning Kiwi heavyweight's chin and composure

British boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is incredulous that Joseph Parker is questioning the jaw of Anthony Joshua as they look to seal a world heavyweight unification fight.

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 big-punching heavyweight," Hearn told Stuff.

"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.

"David Higgins is doing a great job trying to ruffle the feathers. But I completely disagree with what he says about AJ's chin, I think in the Klitschko fight he showed he has a remarkable chin. He got buzzed and he went down but he got up and he was fine. He got hit with some huge hits in that fight."

Hearn is quietly confident he and Higgins can get the promotion across the line and says it is a fight the division and the sport wants and needs.

"Champions should be fighting champions, it's as simple as that. This is a very, very big fight. This is a legacy fight. Anthony wants to be the undisputed champion of the world, so this is a very important step to do that," Hearn said, adding the occasion demanded a fitting venue. That detail still has to be confirmed with Cardiff, London and Manchester in the mix, along with some "quirky alternatives".

"It's a unified title fight between two young, fast, dangerous, unbeaten heavyweight world champions, so to do it in an arena and not a stadium, I'd get lynched.

"It's my job and David Higgins' job to maximise the revenue for the fighters. My gut feeling is it will be outdoors in the UK."

Test of composure
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 toe-to-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. Also AJ and his team know that if someone is willing to take chances, then they are going to get hit and AJ is technically a lot better than some tend to think

"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. If they are standing in a gunfight and they are trading up, then I have to pick my man all day long."

Hearn said he had enjoyed working with the "unorthodox" Higgins but the test would come now as they poured over the fine print to seal the deal in the coming days. He had been amused by some of the banter and conceded the "glass chin" tactics had annoyed Joshua. But he warned against stirring the beast too much.

"They are doing a good job of getting under AJ's skin and he wants to knock Joseph Parker out, simple as that. I wouldn't say it has become personal yet, but it is getting there, Hearn said.

"It's going to be interesting because we haven't really seen that with AJ before. So I'm excited to get this over the line and I'm excited for the buildup as well.

"There have been times when AJ has said to me about Higgins, 'who is this guy?' But he (Higgins) has got the attention and anything that makes the fight bigger, I'm all up for. I hope he brings that quirkiness with him to the press conferences but he may need his security if he pushes too many buttons on AJ."

- Stuff
Joshua vs. Parker agree on purse split for fight

By Scott Gilfoid: David Higgins of Duco Events is reporting that he’s reached an agreement between his fighter WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker and IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn for the purse split for their unification fight.

According to Higgins, the split is between 30 and 35 percent. He appears to be happy with the deal despite the fact that he initially wanted 40 percent for Parker (24-0, 18 KOs). If Hearn has been able to deal Higgins down to 32 or 33 percent for the Joshua-Parker fight, then that’s a big positive for Joshua and a negative for Parker. Hearn initially wanted Parker to accept a 30 percent deal. Parker only getting 32 or 33 percent is hardly a victory for him.

“We’ve had a major breakthrough, which is the two camps have formally agreed on the split,” said Parker’s promoter David Higgins to ESPN.com. “The Joshua side has made a small concession, and the Parker side has made a small concession. It’s between 30 and 35-ish percent for the Parker side. It’s somewhere closer to the middle of that,” said Higgins.

It would have been challenging to see what would have happened if Higgins held out for 38 percent of the cut. Would Hearn have walked away from the deal and matched Joshua up against Alexander Povetkin or Dillian Whyte or would he have agreed to it.

Now that the money split has been agreed on, Parker and Joshua will need to agree on the date and site for the fight. The fight will take place either March 31 or sometime in April.

The location for the Joshua vs. Parker fight will come down to one of these possible cities:

• Manchester, UK

• London, UK

• Cardiff, Wales

There’s also a chance the fight could take place in Saudi Arabia IF a big offer is made from a big money investor. That would be an ideal situation for Parker and Joshua, but it’s not something that can be counted on. More than likely the Parker-Joshua fight will end up in Manchester or London.

Joshua, 28, probably could more money fighting another heavyweight like Alexander Povetkin, Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller or Dillian Whyte, but he wants to unify the division by collecting all 4 of the titles. Joshua holds 2 of the 4 belts already with the IBF and WBA straps. The only heavyweight belts not in Joshua’s possession is the WBO belt held by Parker and the WBC strap held by Deontay Wilder. Joshua might not ever get a fight with Wilder, because of how far apart the two are in the purse split.

Wilder wants a 50-50 split, but Hearn is not open to that idea. Hearn might be looking at using the same strategy that he did in his negotiations for the Parker fight making a lowball offer initially, and then battling hard keep the percent just 2 or 3 points above that original offer. It wouldn’t be surprising if Wilder is given a 35 percent offer by Hearn. It would then be a battle for Wilder’s management to get the split up to the 37 or 38 mark. It would be surprising if Wilder is given a 60-40 purse split and unheard of for him to get a 55-45 split.

Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) is still undefeated thus far in his 4-year pro career. Unfortunately, he’s not looking as solid as he once was. In Joshua’s last 2 fights, he’s labored to beat Wladimir Klitschko and Carlos Takam. While you can say that the reason for that was due to Joshua fighting better opposition, the real reason for him struggling is how big he’s gotten.

Joshua loves to lift weights, and he’s packed on 25 pounds of muscle in just 4 years. If Joshua was an NFL lineman, he’d be perfect with the weight that he’s packing on, but the weight isn’t conducive for him to fight at the highest levels in boxing. The sport involves a lot of cardio. When a fighter packs a massive amount of weight in a relatively short period of time the way that Joshua has done with his weight lifting, something has got to give. In this case, Joshua’s cardiovascular system is laboring to handle all that useless muscle mass he’s packed on. If Joshua was a lineman in the NFL, he could use his extra size to toss his opponents around. This is boxing though. You need to be able to throw punches, defend and move around the ring for 12 rounds. As such, Joshua has shot himself in the foot by turning his physique into a bodybuilder’s physique in my opinion. We’re starting to see how all the muscles that Joshua has packed on are beginning to hurt him. Joshua and his promoter believe that he’s going to stay close to his current weight of 254 for the remainder of his career. In other words, Joshua won’t be moving back down to the 230s or 220s. Personally, I see Joshua winding up in the 260s in a very short period of time. Primo Carnera fought at 265 lbs. in his career. We might see Joshua at the Carnera weight very soon. He just seems to pack on the weight for some reason. It’s too bad because he’s likely going to gas out and taste defeat soon.
The face offs will be interesting, i think parker has been reading off soundbytes written by david higgins. Joshua is intimidating in person it'll be interesting to see if jp has anything to say when they come face to face
No more Mr. Nice Guy from Joshua: I don’t respect Tyson Fury
James Slater - December 31, 2017 8 Comments

Fans have both read and heard the various insults Tyson Fury has hurled Anthony Joshua’s way; the soon to return, unbeaten lineal heavyweight champ vowing to do all manner of things to the reigning WBA/IBF champion when they meet, possibly next summer. And Joshua, usually a reserved, polite and fully respectful person, has had enough of it. AJ says he is no longer able to respect Fury and that Fury has discredited everything he has accomplished.

“What we are achieving as heavyweight champions is phenomenal,” Joshua, 20-0(20) told BBC Sport. “But for someone in my own industry to discredit it, I can’t respect that person. I don’t respect him (Fury). I don’t have much respect for many boxers in the heavyweight division. It’s not an act with me. I’m being honest. I used to. I used to say very nice things. If I speak well of Tyson Fury and say,’ what he’s achieved is so hard and I respect him’ it builds the credibility of the heavyweight championship belt up. But when Tyson Fury says, ‘Anthony Joshua is a bum’ and, ‘look at him, he’s struggling against this opponent,’ it discredits everything I’ve achieved.”

Fury of course, is critical not only of Joshua, but of every rival or potential rival of his and maybe he has managed to get under Joshua’s skin already. If this is the case, then just imagine what the pre-fight pressers and face-offs will be like for Joshua. But Fury-Joshua is a fight everyone wants to see, and Joshua knows it.

“He is a lively opponent when he is fit,” Joshua said of his fellow Brit. “He’s more than welcome to enter a ring with me. It’s something we should be focusing on in 2018. With all due respect to Tyson Fury, it would be wise if his handlers got him a few fights. Get the body ticking over again and get that love for the sport back. Get a few wins under the belt and then we can get cracking.”

Fury is expected back in the ring around April time, all being well, and everyone is interested to see who the comeback opponent will be and how sharp Fury will be in his first fight in around two and-a-half years. Rest assured though, a Fury-Joshua fight will not go away as long as both men are unbeaten, and there will be some serious bad blood in the air right until the first punch is thrown.

Who wins? That question cannot be answered until we see how much of his skill-set Fury has retained. But this much can be said, the Fury who beat Wladimir Klitschko gives Joshua a very, very tough time indeed.
Ya easy win here for Joshua. Parker has been very unimpressive in recent fights and hasn't progressed under Barry. Joshua is limited too but he will have too much for Parker. You can only imagine if prime Frans Botha was around today; he would rule the heavyweight division.
Prime Frans Botha

Prime Frans Botha

Prime Frans Botha
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