Joshua vs Parker and Wilder vs Ortiz set us on course for a huge heavyweight unification clash
At the weekend it was confirmed that Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker will do battle in a titanic heavyweight unification bout on March 31 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
It’s a fight that has been mooted for several months now, and the logical one with Parker being the least box office of all the other champions on AJ’s path to completing his goal of unifying the division.
What makes it even more interesting, however, is the news that Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz will finally do battle for the former’s WBC strap on March 3 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
That clash was originally set for November 4 at the very same venue, only for Ortiz to fail a drug test. While that scrapped the fight, Ortiz did not receive much further punishment as he was able to convince the WBC that what he took was for high blood pressure.
If we really are to return to one undisputed world heavyweight champion, 2018 will surely be very clear: the winner of Joshua-Parker versus the victor in Wilder-Ortiz sometime in the autumn or winter would complete the post-Klitschko journey to a serious new era for the marquee boxing weight class.
“I’m delighted to get this fight made – it’s been a long time coming,” said Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn.
“Champions should fight Champions and AJ continues to step up to the challenges.
“It’s the first time in history that two reigning heavyweight world champions have met in Britain and it’s a classic match-up between two young, fast, undefeated belt holders and it’s going to be an explosive fight.
“This is another huge unification fight for Anthony as he continues to make history in the quest to become undisputed world heavyweight champion.”
Parker is the clear underdog for the bout, but he and his team remain convinced that the knockdown Joshua suffered against Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley last April is a weakspot waiting to be exposed.
“Anthony Joshua is in for a huge shock,” Parker said. “A couple of months ago I heard him say ‘why should I be worried about this little kid from New Zealand’?
“Well, now he’s about to find out. And the world is about to find out whether AJ can really take a punch. My entire existence is now devoted to proving what the boxing world already knows.”
Parker’s promoter David Higgins said: “I know we ruffled a few feathers along the way but, as Eddie acknowledged, when you come from a small country and people perceive you as a small player, sometimes you’ve got to make a bit of noise.
“New Zealand might be a tiny country on the other side of the world but it has a hugely proud sporting tradition – and a particularly strong tradition when it comes to whipping mother England.
“Joseph Parker is the absolute epitome of the Kiwi sporting battler. It has been said that he is punching above his weight, but he didn’t become WBO heavyweight champion by being lucky.
“He’s never been stopped, never even been wobbled in the ring. He’s consistently fought fighters in the world’s top ten and he’s beaten them all easily. It certainly won’t be a shock to me when he beats Anthony Joshua and takes his titles back home to New Zealand.”
No matter how much noise Team Parker makes, his less-than-convincing defence against Tyson Fury’s cousin Hughie means many are expecting the hype train to be headed towards Joshua vs Wilder in the second half of 2018.
And, if we’re lucky, Tyson himself will sort himself out, get back to peak condition and renew his boxing licence all in time to meet the winner of that in 2019 in what would be a huge clash between the unified champion of the world and the man who never lost most of those titles when he ended the Klitschko dominance in Dusseldorf in 2015.
