Anthony Joshua was definitely happier with the third man in the ring than opponent Joseph Parker.
Giuseppe Quartarone’s insistence on breaking up any close exchanges between Joshua and Parker on Saturday night played into the Brit’s hands as he possessed the reach advantage and was thus eager to fight at range.
The Italian official was widely criticised for failing to allow the men to fight on the inside but that wasn’t the only aspect of his performance that was ridiculed.
Lou DiBella, who promotes WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, has claimed that the referee allowed ‘AJ’ to get away with some underhand tactics late on in the fight.
DiBella stated that Joshua went down in his estimations after he pulled off some loose tape and essentially called his own timeout in round nine of the heavyweight unification clash in Cardiff.
“I didn’t see Anthony Joshua taking any chances in that fight at all. And in fact, I saw Anthony Joshua get buzzed by Joseph Parker and then pull his own tape off his glove to create his own timeout, and I’ve got to be honest with you, that made me lose a little bit of respect,” DiBella said on the SiriusXM Boxing Radio Show.
Joshua walked straight to his corner to have his tape fixed but didn’t wait for the referee to give the green light, which is admittedly much closer to gamesmanship than it is to out-and-out cheating.
This ref has an agenda. Just sayin’. Awful. #JoshuaParker
— Lou DiBella🥊 (@loudibella) March 31, 2018
But DiBella was not happy that Joshua was able to get away with what he wanted and he’s claimed that Saturday’s performance proved that the Brit is afraid to take chances.
“I think when everyone around you is afraid, it’s going to make you think too,” said DiBella.
“Do I think he’s afraid? Justifiably. I’ve got to be honest with you – I saw a lot of stuff in that Parker fight that I think a lot of other people saw, particularly people on the other side of the pond and are hesitant to talk about.
“Even though he clearly won the fight, I saw a guy that clearly didn’t want to take a risk. I saw a guy who didn’t want to engage.”
