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Anthony Joshua
Anthony Joshua has emphasised how an arena fight can lead to self doubt. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images via Reuters
Anthony Joshua has emphasised how an arena fight can lead to self doubt. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images via Reuters

Anthony Joshua raring to shine again on big stage against Joseph Parker

This article is more than 6 years old
The reigning IBF and WBA heavyweight champion is ready to embrace the electric atmosphere of an arena crowd once more and questions whether Joseph Parker might crumble

If Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker can reach the end of the week without insulting each other, it might not do a lot for Sky’s pay-per-view sales but it will restore much-needed dignity to the heavyweight division.

While Tyson Fury continues to rant in the wings – and is justly proud of having shed four stones since announcing his comeback – Joshua, who holds the IBF and WBA belts, and Parker, the WBO champion, remain focused, understated and, despite prodding from the media, respectful of each other. However, they are still looking for weaknesses and Joshua believes he might have found one: stage fright. This will be his third stadium fight, probably in front of a Cardiff audience close to 80,000, while the New Zealander will experience that extraordinary rush for the first time.

“The atmosphere can swallow you up,” says Joshua. “It’s crazy. A certain amount of noise can smash glass, based on the frequency. And that sort of noise, booming, it gets you in a fight. You can become desperate. But, honestly in terms of my 20 fights, I always step into the ring and I’m looking at Eddie [Hearn, the promoter] and thinking: ‘He’s made this ring smaller.’ But I feel comfortable in a ring.”

Does he think Parker – a low-key character who betrays no sign of nerves – would be similarly at ease when they enter the ring at the Principality Stadium on Saturday night? “Everyone is different. I don’t know how he will deal with it but there are so many eyes on you. You become desperate and start questioning everything. Are my boots right? Are my shorts right? Do I look all right?

“There are certain situations you feel comfortable in and certain situations you can handle. But you see some people who aren’t comfortable in certain situations. They’re fidgety, they’re not who they really are – and that’s what happens sometimes when you’re in an arena you haven’t been in before in front of so many people. You can act out of character.

“I tried to block the noise out before [in his Wembley fight against Wladimir Klitschko and his last defence, in Cardiff, against Carlos Takam], but that was a big mistake. You have to ride the energy. You use too much emotional energy trying to block it out because there’s so much. You just have to embrace it because it’s overpowering.”

On that they are agreed. Parker says the occasion will not overwhelm him because he is here to enjoy it. He has his parents ringside, and his brother, John, will be in his corner. He did not bring a big entourage, but they are all close and he was comforted that New Zealand were doing so well in the first cricket Test against England.

Fighters, well known to be superstitious, look for all sort of helpful omens, but they know that when their seconds step back and the bell goes, they are in the loneliest place in sport. While Parker’s trainer, Kevin Barry, insists his fighter’s resume has more impressive names on it – apart from Klitschko – Joshua has that experience against the Ukrainian that probably will stay with him for the rest of his career: he went down against the acknowledged best champion of the previous decade, got up and knocked him out – in front of a baying crowd of 90,000 fans. That cannot be replicated in the gym, nor even in an indoor fight in front of 20,000. It is unique and rare. When Joshua beat Klitschko, he proved to himself and others that he has that priceless quality. He regrouped under pressure and finished the job.

“Someone asked me, if I get Parker hurt, will I go in and execute. That’s where you have to be a bit clever and do what you did to get them hurt. When you get them hurt you’re like: ‘Bang’. But, if you can do what you did to get them hurt in the first place, it’s learning how to execute in more of an assassin style rather than a brave warrior riding through on a horse slinging a weapon and killing everyone. I’m trying to be a sniper. That’s probably my mindset now, be a bit more calculating.”

While the bookmakers have posted odds with a flag in one hand, Joshua should deliver on his promise, probably in the later rounds.

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