Anthony Joshua “currently the sport’s biggest player”

Two unbeaten fighters with mightily impressive knockout records take centre stage in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium this weekend, with the world watching with bated breath as one record crumbles to dust.

Britain’s Anthony Joshua, with 20 wins from 20 fights and a perfect 100% KO record, faces off against Joseph Parker, with the New Zealander unbeaten in his 24 fights, 18 of which, or 75%, have been ended early.

The unification bout, which see’s Joshua and his WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles go up against WBO holder Parker, has been dubbed a ‘history maker’ in the build up, with the Briton set to experience a stadium bout for the fourth time in his burgeoning career (two each at the Principality and Wembley).

However, how is the fight benefiting from the longer Easter weekend build up? And crucially, who are punters backing and could we potentially see Joshua lose his crown?

Alan Alger, Public Relations Manager at Betway, has been discussing the upcoming bout: “AJ is a heavy favourite for the fight and punters can’t see past the man from Watford. Although not necessarily taking that price, we’ve seen plenty of interest in a Joshua knockout and a knockout or stoppage in some of the earlier rounds.

“There’s a lot of expectation around this fight, and there’s naturally more interest than normal due to it being an Easter bank holiday. Factor in that it’s Anthony Joshua fighting, and the whole package makes this a huge betting event.

“With events like this between now and the summer, it’s important that we carry this momentum into the World Cup, which obviously is huge for the industry as a whole.”

With the worldwide interest now catapulted in the direction of Joshua, is he the biggest player in the sport? And could boxing betting records fall by the wayside if he continues to march down this path?

Alger added: “He’s currently the sport’s biggest player, there’s no doubting that. People love his background story given his rise through the ranks as an amateur and choosing to fight at the Olympics. He’s a likeable character, and he still has huge potential to do bigger things in boxing.

“We expect him to break boxing betting records, especially given that his next fight could be against Deontay Wilder, where the levels of interest would be very high.”