ANTHONY JOSHUA has not been lured into a unification fight with Joseph Parker by the Kiwi’s bizarre press conference and attack on AJ’s chin.
Duco Events – Parker’s promoters – held an event on Tuesday to show a tin-pot video of AJ taking punches and admitting he was floored in one of the thousands of rounds he has sparred.
The hare-brained move was an effort to force Josh and Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn to pay the small-fry fighter a massive 35 per cent of their potential purse..
AJ sold 180,000 tickets for last two wars with Carlos Takam and Wladimir Klitschko while Parker managed to shift under 8,000 for his last two snorefests against Hughie Fury and Razvan Cojanu.
Despite those one-sided figures, Team Parker insist their WBO champ gets a fat slice of the financial pie as well as a slim chance of landing Joshua’s IBF and WBA belts.
And they edited together a dodgy tape of footage trying to show Joshua looking vulnerable that has backfired.
Aiming a dig the Duco boss, Hearn said: “You’ve got to love this David Higgins – he is absolutely off his swede.
“We are getting closer on a deal, but holding a press conference in a broom cupboard with a promotional video that looks like it’s been done by my eight-year-old daughter is not the one, in terms of justifying your commercial value.
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“Negotiations are ongoing and we are hoping a deal can be reached.”
Higgins hit back instantly and gave Team Joshua and Hearn an ultimatum to pay-up or move on.
Unless their financial demands are met then Parker will accept another fight – with a high risk of losing – possibly taking the WBO belt further from AJ’s grasp.
Higgins said: “What Eddie should be worried about it is Joshua‘s chin, not our press conference. It’s pathetic.”
“If you actually watched the press conference, what we said was correct, serious, and pure fact.
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“Parker is unbeaten, he’s a world champion, and he deserves 35 per cent.
“They will pay us 35 per cent and not one per cent less, or we’ll take another fight, and we might lose, and they might fight [WBC champion Deontay] Wilder. So be the case.
“But I tell you this, Joseph Parker, his family, the trainer and me, we are united and we are adamant that’s the deal. Let’s make the fight.”
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