Former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker believes Anthony Joshua will emerge victorious when he defends his unified heavyweight championship against Andy Ruiz Jr at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden this Saturday night.
But the 27-year-old Kiwi remain undecided on whether the fight goes the distance or ends by stoppage.
“I think AJ will overcome Andy Ruiz and show what he can do in the ring,” Parker told The Ring magazine.
“Ruiz has never been dropped and he’s never been knocked out. One part of me thinks he can go 12 rounds, but another part of me thinks, if Joshua lands the big right hand or the uppercut, then Andy might go down for the first time in his career.
“I’m on the fence in terms of the fight going the distance or ending in a knockout.”
Joshua, who will be making his US debut, was originally scheduled to face Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller before the Brooklynite tested positive to three banned substances and was pulled from the card.
Parker remains the only opponent to go the distance with Joshua and in December 2016 handed Ruiz Jr his lone professional loss in a fight for the vacant WBO heavyweight crown.
“Andy Ruiz is gonna come out strong, he’s got nothing to lose,” Parker continued. “He’s gonna come out and throw hands, and he’ll take a punch to give a punch – that’s his style.
“He’s going to be in the firing zone and he’ll get caught a lot more than I did.
“The thing is, if it was a little hard for Andy to get to me and I’m 6-foot-4, we have to remember that Joshua is 6-foot-6. Joshua is smart in the ring and he knows how to avoid the shorter fighter.
“In the fight we had, he started a lot faster than I did. When he does attack, he throws a lot of combinations.
“He has very fast hands and he likes to mix it up – he throws to the head, he throws to the body and he put the pressure on throughout the fight.
“The pressure was just more intense in the first half and towards the middle, I picked it up. I was able to work my combinations, get the better of him and he faded a bit.”
Parker has been on the sidelines since his December knockout of American Alexander Flores but is expected to announce his next opponent in the coming days.