Kevin Barry: Joseph Parker will take 'friggin beating' against Anthony Joshua if movement not right

Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker square up. Photo / Getty Images.

Joseph Parker's trainer Kevin Barry has expressed the importance of speed and movement against Anthony Joshua when the pair meet in a world heavyweight unification fight in Cardiff at the end of next month.

Parker has been hard at work at his Las Vegas camp – losing weight and sharpening up for a fight against one of the hardest punchers in the division.

Barry wants Parker to be slimmer and lighter for the fight at Principality Stadium – about 107kg rather than the 110kg or so he has been in his recent fights – and told boxing blogger BWTM that Parker's movement in particular was imperative.

"If Joe is going to have slow foot speed against Anthony Joshua we're going to take a friggin beating, so it's important that he's lighter in this fight," Barry said.

However, weight loss is important too for Joshua, who looked overly heavy and sluggish in his last fight against Carlos Takam and who has already promised to be in better condition for this one.

"He's been fighting in the 250s [pounds, about 114kg]. I know he's going to be fighting in the low 240s [about 108kg] for this fight and he needs to be," Barry said.

Team Parker recently released a video of him training on the pads, and the Kiwi WBO champion is punching in combinations and with good movement of head and feet.

Barry said Parker's speed was returning, adding: "People see him and say 'yeah, he's fast', but it's not until you're actually in front of him do you realise just how fast that hand speed is. I think that will definitely be a secret weapon for us."

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