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Anthony Joshua needs another confidence boosting easy win before even thinking about getting in the ring with the most dangerous heavyweight fighter in the division, Joseph Parker.
In his last two outings, Joshua toyed with his sparring partner, Otto Wallin, for 6 rounds of highly entertaining exhibition boxing before Wallin, who is about as dangerous as a swedish pastry, decided he'd put on enough of a show and taken enough punishment to call it quits in his corner. Perhaps a trait he'd learned from Joshua who did the same thing in losing previously held world titles to cherry-pick gone wrong Andy Ruiz Jr.
Joshua then, rather than face legitimate top 10 contenders, the likes of Frank Sanchez, Filip Hrgovic, Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker himself, chose to follow the Wallin display with an even more entertaining exhibition of cross-code combat in eliminating the haplessly outclassed MMA champion Francis Ngannou by virtual 1st round knockout.
While those bouts passed the eye test in terms of brutal power against overmatched opponents, they will not serve as the hard rounds Joshua needs to bank before considering a match up against the massively in-form Parker, who negated the strengths of the previously formidable Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang to win comfortably on the cards.
Most pundits, and indeed the various ranking organisations have seen fit to rate Joshua's fine displays of destructive exhibition boxing above Parker's quality lessons in the sweet science to line Joshua up for a title challenge against whatever belt becomes avaliable first - after Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk slug it out for undisputed, unified, undefeated status.
There is no doubt Anthony Joshua has the physical traits to defeat any worthy contender for world championship titles. The question is; given Joshua's breakdown in the ring which saw him throw the belts he lost to Usyk, twice, and demeaning Usyk's far superior technical ability and heart...
Does AnthonyJoshua have the heart and confidence to take on Joseph Parker in a long overdue rematch Joshua won under dubious home-cooked refereeing 6 years ago or does he need another confidence boosting exhibition of can crushing before doing so ?
In his last two outings, Joshua toyed with his sparring partner, Otto Wallin, for 6 rounds of highly entertaining exhibition boxing before Wallin, who is about as dangerous as a swedish pastry, decided he'd put on enough of a show and taken enough punishment to call it quits in his corner. Perhaps a trait he'd learned from Joshua who did the same thing in losing previously held world titles to cherry-pick gone wrong Andy Ruiz Jr.
Joshua then, rather than face legitimate top 10 contenders, the likes of Frank Sanchez, Filip Hrgovic, Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker himself, chose to follow the Wallin display with an even more entertaining exhibition of cross-code combat in eliminating the haplessly outclassed MMA champion Francis Ngannou by virtual 1st round knockout.
While those bouts passed the eye test in terms of brutal power against overmatched opponents, they will not serve as the hard rounds Joshua needs to bank before considering a match up against the massively in-form Parker, who negated the strengths of the previously formidable Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang to win comfortably on the cards.
Most pundits, and indeed the various ranking organisations have seen fit to rate Joshua's fine displays of destructive exhibition boxing above Parker's quality lessons in the sweet science to line Joshua up for a title challenge against whatever belt becomes avaliable first - after Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk slug it out for undisputed, unified, undefeated status.
There is no doubt Anthony Joshua has the physical traits to defeat any worthy contender for world championship titles. The question is; given Joshua's breakdown in the ring which saw him throw the belts he lost to Usyk, twice, and demeaning Usyk's far superior technical ability and heart...
Does AnthonyJoshua have the heart and confidence to take on Joseph Parker in a long overdue rematch Joshua won under dubious home-cooked refereeing 6 years ago or does he need another confidence boosting exhibition of can crushing before doing so ?
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