•I’ll chase Joshua hard — Parker

As the pounds have slipped off Joseph Parker during 11 weeks of hard training in Las Vegas, so the pounds have come in on the WBO champion to spring a huge upset when he faces Anthony Joshua in their heavyweight unification fight in Cardiff  tomorrow.

Joshua- Parker

But Joshua, who likes a punt himself and made £650 at the weekend when his former opponent Dillian Whyte stopped Lucas Browne in the sixth round, is convinced the smart money is on Parker’s fire raging and then fading around round eight or nine.

“The difference is I know how to counter-punch,” said Joshua, who puts his WBA Super and IBF titles on the line, with Parker putting up his WBO belt. “I haven’t seen Parker counter-punching anyone. I’ll punish him when he’s throwing at me, and I’ll punish him when he’s thinking of throwing at me. I’ll break him down.

“Rounds five to eight, it’ll be a tough night. But, if everything goes to plan I think Parker will fade between round eight and nine.”

Parker was also dismissive about Joshua’s previous claim that no human can beat him, saying: “You can say it’s arrogance but it’s not realistic. Of course he can be beaten. He is not a god, he is a human being, and I will show on Saturday night that I am going to beat him.”

He insists that, if he has Joshua in trouble, as Klitschko did at Wembley last year, he won’t need a second invitation to put his opponent away. “I have prepared for 12 rounds hard with my coach,” Parker said.