By Lyle Fitzsimmons

It's five days until the opening bell.

And now that the task of getting Joseph Parker physically prepped for a Saturday date with Anthony Joshua is complete, trainer Kevin Barry can get on to even more important matters.

Making sure his man is mentally ready to deliver a career-defining performance, too.

Of course, as far as Barry is concerned, it's a starring role that the New Zealand-born 26-year-old – a pro since mid-2012 – has been working toward on smaller stages for quite some time.

"One of the huge strengths of Joseph Parker is his ability to control his emotions and he's showed that since very, very early in his career," Barry told Boxing Scene. "Joe's been heading his own pay-per-view cards down in New Zealand since his fifth professional fight. It’s a smaller market, but we've had him under the spotlight, he's been under huge media attention, all his professional career.

"This is a much bigger stage, but one thing I can tell you about Joseph Parker it doesn't matter if it's 800 people, 8,000 people or 80,000 people, it'll be the same guy preparing for three hours in the dressing room, it'll be the same guy walking to the ring, we'll have the same laughing and singing in the dressing room. I have absolutely zero concern of Joseph Parker being overawed by this big occasion."

The occasion in this case will take place at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales -- a venue where more than 70,000 people watched Joshua stop Carlos Takam (TKO 10) in late October.

Joshua will again be risking his IBF, IBO and WBA heavyweight title belts this time around, while Parker will be making defense No. 3 of the WBO championship he won against Andy Ruiz Jr. in December 2016.

Combined, the two fighters are 44-0 with 38 knockouts -- including 8-0 with 5 KOs in title bouts.

"When you start changing everything around because all of a sudden you find yourself in one of the major fights in the world this year and you try to reinvent yourself, that’s when guys come unstuck," Barry said. "We've kept the whole training camp very similar to what we've done in the last five years. The actual mental preparation is very similar to what we’ve done in the last two years."

Parker and Barry laid the bulk of the groundwork for the Joshua fight in Las Vegas, where Parker lives and trains full time. They spent the better part of 10 weeks in camp in Nevada before heading to London last week and will finish up with a quick 150-mile westerly trip to Cardiff early this week.

It's the sixth overseas business trip and second to the United Kingdom for Parker, who's also fought twice in the United States and once apiece in Samoa and Germany – in addition to 19 fights on home turf.

But in training camp, it's same old, same old, which for Parker means a daily dose of downtime as well.

"Outside of the gym, we like to have a good time," Barry said. "Joe likes to play on the PlayStation. He likes to sing. He likes a lot of music. I coach with a lot of passion. I respond well to that. We know what we have to do. We know the strengths of Anthony Joshua. We also know the strengths of Joseph Parker and it's very important for us to force our strengths on him.

"I feel very confident. We like our chances. It's a fight that we've looked at the last couple of years. This is a good, exciting style matchup between two young, hungry undefeated world champions. And they should bring out the best in each other. We're right where we want to be at the moment. It's all tapering off, just staying nice and sharp and making sure the body is ready for March 31."

Ready or not, though, few beyond Team Parker are giving him much of a chance.

It'll take a $900 wager on Joshua to yield a $100 profit according to odds-makers at Bovada, while a $100 bet on Parker could bring a $550 windfall if the road warrior defies conventional wisdom.

And make no mistake, said wisdom has been a recurring point of conversation.

"We love hearing all that banter. It actually amuses us. We get strength from it," Barry said. "When there's been stories coming out -- 'You know we're gonna fight Deontay Wilder next, we're gonna fight Dillian Whyte, we may fight Jarrell Miller' -- don't forget you've got to get past a guy called Joseph Parker first. He's undefeated and wears the other belt.

"They've bought into this Anthony Joshua heavyweight superstar thing hook, line and sinker. And a lot of it is all on one performance against a 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko. They've really thrown it all in behind him. That gives us a lot of motivation coming into a fight where people are looking past us because we know the skills that we possess. We know the talent that Joseph Parker has. And I know that this particular fight I believe will bring out the very, very best in him."

Parker has been a world commodity since 2015, when he blasted former title challenger Kali Meehan out in three rounds in Auckland. He returned seven months later for a unanimous 12-round decision over the aforementioned Takam before taking the WBO strap with a majority verdict over Ruiz.

Meehan was slotted 18th by the Independent World Boxing Rankings at the time of their fight and Takam – at No. 9 – remains his highest-ranked opponent. Parker is now considered fourth in the world by the IWBR, behind Joshua, Alexander Povetkin and Wilder (the WBC champ) at 1, 2 and 3, respectively.

Joshua has beaten three top-20 foes in his career, including Charles Martin (ranked No. 15 at the time), Klitschko (then No. 1) and No. 9 Takam. He was dropped in the sixth round and nearly KO'd by Klitschko before rallying for an 11th-round stoppage of his own.

Barry cited the knockdown against Klitschko as well as other incidents – amateur and professional – when Joshua was wobbled, during a midweek conference call last week. But he insisted during the conversation with Boxing Scene two days later that it wasn't intended as a slight to the Englishman.

"He does have some weaknesses, as all fighters do," Barry said. "I don’t believe that Anthony Joshua's chin is a weakness. I've seen him hit flush before. He's been down. A lot of guys have been down. He's always gotten back up again. I think he showed a real champion's heart when he got back up in the Klitschko fight. The chin is something I don’t consider as a weakness for him."

Joshua will enter the ring with a two-inch height advantage (6-foot-6 to 6-foot-4) and a six-inch gap in reach (82 inches to 76). The bigger man has also weighed in anywhere from 243 to 254 pounds for his five title fights since 2016, while Parker has scaled 246¾, 245¾ and 245 for his three title events.  

Barry, who got an Olympic silver medal in 1984 after a 21-year-old Evander Holyfield was DQ'd for hitting on the break, expects Saturday night's outcome to be evident by goings-on in the early stages.

"If he can start touching Joe with his jab it's gonna make for a very difficult night for us," he said. "You don’t want to be caught standing in front of him, you don’t want to be caught on the ropes. Obviously for this fight we are looking for hand speed, a lot of movement, and I'm also looking for a lot of punches from Joseph Parker. The way to stop a big guy like that is by throwing punches back at him. I think it's very important that we don’t let Joshua take the lead in this fight.

"It's very important that we don’t get under any heavy punches in the first couple rounds. If Joshua is able to get to Joe with some of his combinations outside it's gonna set the scene for a very difficult night for us. If we're able to turn the big guy and move him around, beat him to the punch, I think we're setting a scene that could be very beneficial for us in the later rounds."

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SATURDAY

IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight titles – Cardiff, Wales
Anthony Joshua (IBF, IBO, WBA champ/No. 1 IWBR) vs. Joseph Parker (WBO champ/No. 4 IWBR)
Joshua (20-0, 20 KO): Fifth IBF title defense; Third fight in Cardiff (12 total rounds)
Parker (24-0, 18 KO): Third WBO title defense; Sixth fight outside New Zealand (5-0, 3 KO)
Fitzbitz says: Parker is a strong guy who'll cause some problems if he lands a flush shot, but he's also a guy stepping up significantly when it comes to class of opponent. That'll show. Joshua in 7

WBA bantamweight title – Cardiff, Wales
Ryan Burnett (champion/No. 6 IWBR) vs. Yonfrez Parejo (No. 2 WBA/No. 50 IWBR)
Burnett (18-0, 9 KO): Second title defense; Seven straight wins by decision (4-0 in 12-rounders)
Parejo (21-2-1, 10 KO): First title fight; Fighting in his ninth country (Lost only fight in Europe)
Fitzbitz says: The challenger is older and hasn't yet proven that he belongs on Burnett's level – in spite of a too-high ranking by the WBA. Unless the champ falters, it's a safe, stay-busy win. Burnett by decision

Last week's picks: 1-0 (WIN: Murat)
2018 picks record: 24-8 (75.0 percent)
Overall picks record: 945-312 (75.1 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.