After weeks of reportedly being close, news broke today that the three belt heavyweight unification bout between Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker has finally been signed. As it stands now, this is the biggest fight of the first third of 2018. We will likely be just one fight away from an undisputed heavyweight champion afterward.
Anthony Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) will be the big favorite here. The two big men share one common opponent in Carlos Takam. While the Cameroonian did have some success against Joshua and the stoppage was questionable, he had even more against Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) in New Zealand. That 2016 fight felt like it was won for Parker more by Takam running out of gas than being outgunned.
Of course, boxing doesn’t work by the transitive property. Common opponents are only part of the picture. We have also seen Parker struggle to narrowly win against Andy Ruiz Jr and Hughie Fury, the latter of which in an absolutely dreadful fight. This is in contrast to Anthony Joshua who holds that memorable and dramatic win over Wladimir Klitschko last year while having also largely dominated his other nineteen opponents.
Joseph Parker and his team are making the claim their English opponent has a glass chin that will be exposed though. If they are right, it will be a result come fight night on March 31st. Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales and its 70,000 plus capacity will once again play host as it did last time out for Joshua against Takam. The WBA, IBF, and WBO titles will all be on the line. Sky Sports Box Office will have the event in the UK. While it hasn’t been stated outright, it also seems like a safe bet that Showtime will have the unification bout stateside. I wouldn’t expect much from the undercard as this show will not need a good one to sell.
