Joseph Parker wants winner of Anthony Joshua vs Charles Martin
Monday 15 February 2016 17:16, UK
Joseph Parker will target the winner of Anthony Joshua's world title fight with IBF champion Charles Martin, says the Kiwi heavyweight's promoter.
Joshua could become a world champion in just his 16th fight after newly-crowned IBF king Martin agreed to make his first defence at London's O2 Arena on April 9, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
The IBF were set to offer Joshua a final eliminator for their belt, but Parker might now battle for the right to become a mandatory challenger and promoter Dean Lonergen believes he could receive a shot at the belt by January next year.
"The IBF mandatory is up, I think, on January 16 next year," Lonergen told Sky Sports.
"If Joseph Parker can get to the mandatory position, which is our goal, as well as being the No 1 mandatory for the WBO, the IBF champion will have to face him - if he's in that position - or relinquish the title, and no one is going to relinquish the title.
"It's absolutely a fight we would love to have. Now if Charles Martin won that fight, it would be a fight he would probably have in America, and if Anthony Joshua wins the fight, it's a fight you would have in England. If it's in England, it would be an absolutely enormous fight.
"It's unbelievable the interest that they are showing in the fight from this side of the world, so it will be fascinating to see what would happen if we actually got up there with a fight in England."
Joshua has recently said that he expects to face Parker in the near future and Lonergen insists the 24-year-old would 'take that fight tomorrow.'
He said: "The fact that Anthony Joshua is talking about us. Six months ago, we weren't on the radar. Now all of a sudden we are and that has got to be a good thing.
Here's the deal, at some stage Anthony Joshua is not going to be able to avoid us.
"But we are on the radar for a reason and that is because we've got the No 1 [position] in the WBO and it's our intention to have the No 1 in the IBF as well. Here's the deal, at some stage Anthony Joshua is not going to be able to avoid us.
"We've said we'll take that fight tomorrow and I understand where [Joshua's promoter] Eddie Hearn sits. He's probably got 100 fighters who want to fight Anthony Joshua, but at the end of the day only one is No 1 with the WBO and has got the credentials of Joseph Parker.
"I'm sure it's a fight that the British public would love to see, certainly the New Zealand public would love to see it."
Joshua could become the next heavyweight champion from Britain, joining the division's current No 1 Tyson Fury, and Lonergen admits the former Olympic gold medallist is on the brink of becoming a huge star.
"British boxing right now is absolutely on fire and if Anthony Joshua was to become the IBF champion, it would just go through the stratosphere," he said.
"You would get two guys who are legitimate world champions, but I don't think Charles Martin will be an easy fight. He's a southpaw, so he's awkward, and I think Charles Martin will fancy himself in that fight as well. Either way, the outcome will be fantastic for world boxing."
