By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Las Vegas-based New Zealand trainer Kevin Barry who trains WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker is confident promoter Eddie Hearn will prefer IBF, WBA champion Anthony Joshua to fight Parker and delay a bout with WBC champion Deontay Wilder. Joshua was given a tougher than expected contest against Carlos Takam on Saturday.

“It made me feel that we have a very, very good chance of dethroning this guy,” Barry told Fairfax Media. “I thought Joshua was robotic, I thought he was slow at times, I thought his lead patterns were very predictable. And, once again, he showed that he definitely has stamina problems, he was blowing big time.

“At the moment we are in a very good position. On that performance yesterday, even from what Joshua and Eddie Hearn both said, they don’t want to get in the ring with Deontay Wilder just yet. Out of the two champions, they will definitely target Joe. And we are happy about that. But we won’t be jumping when Eddie Hearns tells us to jump.”