Parker's Trainer: Bellew Fight is Perfect Path To Anthony Joshua

Kevin Barry, trainer of WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, views Tony Bellew as the perfect fight to build a unification showdown with IBF, WBA, IBO champion Anthony Joshua.

On Saturday night, Joshua put down former division ruler Wladimir Klitschko in an epic fight in front of 90,000 people at Wembley, taking victory on an 11th round stoppage.

Joshua added the WBA, IBO titles to his IBF belt but only after being knocked to the canvas by the 41-year-old Klitschko in the sixth round. Klitschko had been down earlier in the fifth round.

Bellew, who last month shocked David Haye with an eleventh round stoppage, more or less put his WBC cruiserweight title on the shelf and intends to continue his career as a heavyweight.

He wants a showdown with Parker, because the two boxers are similar in size. But Parker will have to come away intact from next Saturday's voluntary defense against Romanian Razvan Cojanu in Auckland.

Last year, Parker was the mandatory challenger to Joshua, but he instead went the WBO route and defeated Andy Ruiz last December to capture the vacant belt.

He was then scheduled to fight mandatory challenger Hughie Fury, who is the cousin of Tyson Fury, in a mandatory defense. Hughie withdrew with a back injury and then Cojanu came in on late notice.

"Everything going well [a win against Cojanu], we will be taking Joe abroad," Barry told Newshub. "One fight that is being talked up in the boxing media at the moment is Tony Bellew. I like the style for Joe, he's a guy that's very popular in the UK with a large fan base and we consider this a great introduction for Joe to the UK boxing media, fans and public.

"The Bellew fight, we see as, with the right result, will lead Joe into a fight with Joshua."