Anthony Joshua has rubbished suggestions that his ability to take a shot is questionable.
As upcoming opponent Joseph Parker tried to goad the undefeated Brit into agreeing to a unification bout, his team released footage of every occasion that Joshua was wobbled in the ring.
The bizarre press conference, which was held by Parker’s promotional team Duco Events, saw the WBO heavyweight champion’s handler David Higgins claim that Joshua has “a glass jaw” and that “it’s the worst kept secret in British boxing but no one really talks about too much. Perhaps it’s because Hearn and Joshua are quite powerful in the sport. It’s like the emperor’s new clothes.”
Whether the trash talk played any part in convincing Joshua to pursue the Parker fight before a clash with WBC title-holder Deontay Wilder remains unknown but confirmation arrived on Sunday that ‘AJ’ and the undefeated Kiwi will do battle in Cardiff on March 31.
The pair came face-to-face for the first time on Tuesday at a press conference and it was there that Joshua clarified why he’d been hit with accusations of a weak chin.
“There is a lot of talk about me being dropped,” Joshua said. “But there have only been three times it’s happened. The first was the European championships, when only two weeks before I had been called back into the programme because I was banned from the GB team. I was very unfit but I got stopped, not dropped.
’The second time was with David Price, I came out of a police cell the day before and went up there to spar. Price is a puncher and that was down to a lack of experience.
“And Klitschko taught me that it will take more than a human to stop me from going where I am going. The rumours the Parker camp have heard are all fake news.”
