Parker's Promoter Not Ruling Out Facing Anthony Joshua Sooner

By Edward Chaykovsky

Dean Lonergan, promoter of Joseph Parker, is not ruling out the possibility of a fight with IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in the fall.

Joshua is going to make the next defense of his title on November 26th in Manchester. The frontrunner to face him appeared to be Kubrat Pulev, but Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport recently stated that the negotiations were a bit difficult.  

Parker, who is the mandatory challenger to the title, is scheduled to face Alexander Dimitrenko on October 1.

As BoxingScene.com previously reported, Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport would like to place Parker on the undercard of the planned event on November 26. He wants to match him against Olympic bronze medal winner David Price, who also wants a crack at Joshua (17-0, 17KOs).

Lonergan and Parker are both open to that idea. But if Joshua is unable to find the right opponent for November and wants Parker to come to the table, there is a possibility of that happening - although both of the involved promoters would rather build the fight up and stage it next March at the O2 Arena in London.

"If the opportunity [to fight Joshua] arises and [trainer] Kevin [Barry] agrees, and more importantly Joseph does, we would be open to the idea of fighting Joshua earlier, but that's not the plan at the moment," Lonergan said to the New Zealand Herald.

"And that's all assuming Joe gets past Alexander Dimitrenko, a durable and and under-rated opponent, in Auckland on October 1. Because if he doesn't then we have to start again."

Lonergan admits that everything at the moment is focused on Dimitrenko, who is a seasoned veteran. This will be Parker's fourth fight of the year. He knocked out Jason Bergman in January, won a tough decision over Carlos Takam in May and then stopped Solomon Haumono in July.