Zhang Or Joshua: Joseph Parker Has No Doubt On His Toughest Opponent And It’s Not Wilder, Zhang Or Joshua

Joseph Parker has mixed it with the elite in the heavyweight division.

Joseph Parker first became WBO heavyweight champion back in 2016 with a victory over Andy Ruiz, and has remained near the top of the division for nearly a decade

He lost his title to Anthony Joshua in 2018, but has had a career resurgence in the past 12 months, defeating Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang to earn himself another crack at world honours.

That comes in February, when he challenges Daniel Dubois for his IBF heavyweight title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on the same card as Artur Beterbiev and Dmity Bivol‘s rematch for the undisputed light-heavyweight title.

While Parker may have shared the ring with Wilder, Zhang and Joshua, it’s another man that he deems to have been his toughest ever opponent, as he revealed to Carl Froch on his Froch On Fighting YouTube channel.

“Joe Joyce. It wasn’t a great night for me, it was tough.

“Leading into the fight I got real sick. Very bad. I shouldn’t have fought. Mentally I thought I would smash this guy. Then after one round I thought damn, it’s not going by well.

“He’s not the fastest and doesn’t move the quickest. [I lost because of] The pressure and I wasn’t healthy. It was tough.”

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Parker fought Joyce in September 2022, and was knocked out in the 11th round, the only time the New Zealander has been stopped in his career.

Having got his career back on track, Parker will be hoping to become world champion again in February, and his former foe Zhang has predicted how the clash with Dubois will go.