WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker has a clash with Hughie Fury inked for September 23 in Manchester, but he already has a view to taking on unified WBA and IBF boss Anthony Joshua in 2018.
Parkerโs representative David Higgins met Joshuaโs promoter Eddie Hearn. He told Duco Boxing, โWe talked about if we get past Fury weโre looking at potential opponents Dillian Whyte, Tony Bellew and even further out Joshua.
โIn boxing what makes dollars makes sense.โ
New Zealandโs Parker could fight Joshua in the spring or summer of next year. โFrom an Anthony Joshuaโs promoter point of view, weโve got the Wladimir Klitschko fight, weโve also got a mandatory with [Kubrat] Pulev but we want Parker spring/summer of next year. We want to try to add another belt,โ explained Hearn.
โI think Duco have a got a good opportunity in fighting Hughie Fury. Itโs a fight that if it happens I think they should win and then I would stay here [in the UK], to be honest with you. I would try and knock off all the guys that would make my profile so significant that the Anthony Joshua fight becomes a huge UK and worldwide event and certainly victories over Hughie Fury and Tony Bellew or Dillian While would put Joseph in a brilliant position to earn a lot, a lot of money in the Anthony Joshua fight and put him in a position where that fight is a necessity rather than a potential fight.โ
โObviously weโre both blessed to have world heavyweight champions that we represent and obviously at some stage theyโre going to fight each other. Interesting that Joseph Parker and his team are fighting a Brit next. We want to make sure the next guy they fight is one of our guys and that is Dillian Whyte, Tony Bellew or Anthony Joshua.โ