Joseph Parker talks game plan to upset Anthony Joshua

In a sit-down interview with Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV, WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker talks about what he needs to do in order to earn a victory of the favored Anthony Joshua. Check it out…

Joseph Parker on how he’s feeling as this training camp progresses:

“Well firstly, the camp’s gone great so far. We’ve been in camp for four, four-and-a-half weeks now, nearly five weeks, so when we started camp we had a good structure, we had a good game plan…I feel like everything’s flowing nicely, how I want it to flow. I’m feeling trim, I’m feeling powerful, I’m feeling happy so there’s nothing to complain about…”

On how he would compare his performance against Carlos Takam vesus Anthony Joshua’s:

“I felt that the performance that we put on against Takam was a good performance. You know, we got the win. There were some things in that camp that didn’t go well. I think with [Joshua’s] performance, he did what he had to do to get the win. You know, it wasn’t the best — I mean when you compare it to the Klitschko fight, it wasn’t the best performance — but he did what he had to do…”

On sparring with Wladimir Klitschko and what he learned from that experience:

“Well at the time Klitschko was champion. For us it was great — it was a great way to see how a champion operates, how he has the structure in camp, how he does things. For me it was a big eye-opener. You know, at the time I was a big supporter of Klitschko and it was a great opportunity for me to go in there and test myself against the best in the world. So overall it was a great experience and I think we did quite well…”

On if he thinks his fight with Joshua could turn out to be as dramatic as Klitschko-Joshua:

“To be honest I don’t care what type of fight we have. Like I said, as long as I’m prepared to go 12 rounds and as long as I’m prepared to give it my best, whatever happens, happens. But my plan is to go in there and get the victory and like my coach said, celebrate after that with the family and friends ‘cause it’s been a long journey and a journey that everyone’s had an input with…So I don’t care if it’s dramatic or not, I just wanna go out there and do the best I can.”

On what he thinks Joshua will bring out of him:

“I think, you know, Joshua’s a great fighter and that’s the reason why we wanted to fight him. We respect him as a fighter, we see him as, you know, he is a champion and we see him as one of the best in the world — so that’s the reason we wanted to fight him. I think he’s already brought out a lot in me in terms of this camp. This camp has been a great camp so far, like I mentioned. And I feel like we’re doing everything right. We’re giving everything we can to prepare as best we can for this…Best camp of my life so far and I’m enjoying every moment of it. I’m enjoy the pain, I’m enjoying the good times and the bad times.”

On what’s been the most painful part of camp:

“The whole body’s in pain [laughs]. Kevin’s got me doing a lot of things, you know. Probably the yoga is probably the hardest. It’s hard to hold those stretches, man, when you’re sore.”

On how he’s been dieting in camp, and how it’s a reflection on how he wants to perform:

“I can eat whatever I wanna eat but I wanna follow the program that’s put in place. I wanna be lighter, and that’s gonna allow me to be lighter on my feet, my movement’s gonna be a lot better so we have got a weight that we wanted to be at before the fight and I think we’re very close to it.”

How he pictures the fight with Joshua playing out:

“I’m see that I upset him with the movement, with angles, with punches. But I also see him coming back strong so it’s gonna be a tough fight and it depends on who is gonna impose his figure on who more.”

On what it would mean to him to beat Joshua:

“It would be a dream come true. You know, I set goals in my life to be New Zealand Champion, World Champion, Unified Champion, so that’ll be a dream come true — not only for myself, for my team, for the countries that I represent…

“I love the challenge of fighting in his hometown, and just fighting in front of 80,000 people, and the challenge of going in there and getting those belts. So it’s gonna mean a lot, but, there’s still a lot of work to be done before then.”