Fury Picks Parker Over Joshua

Even though he’s been angling for a fight with his opponent, former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is backing WBO champion Joshua Parker to win his unification fight against IBF, IBO, WBA champion Anthony Joshua

Joshua and Parker announced their fight on Sunday, for March 31 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

Parker is viewed as the underdog in the contest, with the Olympic gold medal winner expected to walk away from the fight with another knockout under his belt.

Fury has dolled out high praise for Parker, and expects the New Zealander to come away with the biggest victory of his career.

“If I’m honest I fancy Parker, and that’s being gospel,” Fury said on the Pound for Pound podcast.

“He’s young and ambitious, he’s got fast hands, he hits hard and he fights excellent against opponents who stand still and don’t move.”

“Another thing is I’ve never met a Maori that ain’t tough — they’re all tough as teak.”

A win by Parker would not be a positive for Fury, as a fight against Joshua for the heavyweight title would be the biggest event in British boxing and one of the biggest heavyweight fights in almost two decades.

Fury recently parted ways with longtime trainer, his uncle Peter Fury, and hired Ben Davison to prepare him for a planned ring return in April. He is in the process of reclaiming his license to box from the British Boxing Board of Control.

The controversial boxer has been out of the ring since shocking Wladimir Klitschko for the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight titles back in November of 2015 in Germany. Fury lost the IBF title for failing to make a mandatory defense against Czar Glazkov, and then he was forced to drop his remaining world titles in order to deal with his mental health issues.

He would go on to lose his license to box after testing positive for cocaine and admitting to a substance abuse issue.