Boxing: Tyson Fury - Joseph Parker is 'as tough as a brick'

Joseph Parker and Hughie Fury in action. Photosport

Joseph Parker is right to question Anthony Joshua's chin says Tyson Fury, the controversial former undisputed world heavyweight champion, who has added by way of comparison that his Kiwi mate is as "tough as a brick".

In a long interview with IFL TV in which Fury talks about his training to return to the ring – he's lost about 25kg but still weighs 146kg – the Englishman becomes especially animated when the conversation turns to Joshua, the IBF and WBA "super" champion, and Parker's chance against him.

Parker's promoter David Higgins is currently in negotiations with Eddie Hearn over a fight against Joshua in London in March, a fight Fury believes will be made.

The Parker camp received heavy criticism in the UK for their recent video which showed Joshua being knocked down by Wladimir Klitschko and as an amateur against a Bulgarian opponent.

Parker has also gone on the offensive recently with regards to Joshua's chin. The 25-year-old has never been knocked down in the ring or in sparring, and Fury, who recently said he would bet £5000 that Parker would knock out Joshua, agrees.

"Eddie Hearn and Joshua see Joseph Parker as an easy victim, but like that clip showed – the little fat Bulgarian chinned him, bish, bash, wallop, and sat him down in the corner," Fury said.

"He was a big bodybuilder then too and that was a little fat man punching his head in for him. Can Parker beat him? Yes, he can. Parker is as tough as a brick and as game as a pebble and is young and ambitious with no expectations on him. Nobody expects Parker to beat Joshua – it's all about the weightlifter, let's go in there and blast a few out – bash, bash.

"There are no expectations on Joseph, he's a young man coming for a pay cheque isn't he, so he can't lose. It's a no-lose situation. If he loses to Joshua, 'oh, he was supposed to lose'. But if he wins he becomes legendary and then I'll have to come back and give him a boxing lesson, which I don't want to because he's my mate.

"Parker can beat Joshua, he can knock him out. Joshua's chin is dodgy. We know this for a fact."

Parker and Fury have always been respectful of each other and that has turned into a friendship. The pair went out in Manchester until the small hours after Parker beat his cousin Hughie.

But Fury made no bones about the fact that he would get into the ring against Parker and back himself to win. "Joshua, Wilder, Parker, they can never be considered great until they beat me," he said.

Fury, inactive since beating Klitschko in Germany two years ago, has been kept on tenterhooks by the British Board of Boxing who have yet to clear him for a return to the ring following his admissions of cocaine use and a failed test for performance enhancing drugs.

Fury has already maintained his innocence of the latter and believes he will be cleared at last at a meeting on December 11.