Former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (24-1) views his upcoming contest with Dillian Whyte (23-1) as a "50-50" fight.

Last week, the two heavyweights came face to face to announce their showdown for July 28 at the O2 Arena in London.

Both of them have a single loss on their respective records - and they came at the hands of the same man - IBF, WBA, WBO, IBO champion Anthony Joshua.

Whyte was knocked out in the seventh round of his bout with Joshua back in December of 2015.

On the other hand, Parker became the first man to last the distance with Joshua when he lost a twelve round unanimous decision in March of this year.

But their styles are completely different.

Whyte made it a fire fight and had Joshua in trouble in the early rounds, while Parker was strictly boxing and moving on his toes against Joshua - in a fight where neither boxer was seriously hurt or in trouble at any point in the contest.

And that's why Parker is not placing any stock in Whyte's stoppage loss to Joshua.

 "You can't really say that he got knocked out and I went 12 rounds," Parker told Sky TV in the UK.

"Styles make fights and every fight is different and anything can happen in any fight. Everyone says are you confident from the 12 rounds you went. But you can't get confidence from 12 rounds ... you have top focus on the person in front of you not what you did in the past.

"I'm excited man, I can't wait. I'm in the ring with this guy who has got a longer reach than me but I want to get in there and do my thing. I think it's going to be an explosive fight. I see it as a 50-50 ... I see the youngness, the drive that we both have, the goals that we have to be world champion."