Parker and promoter David Higgins used the fact Joshua had been hurt numerous times in their bid to secure the fight against the Briton, set for March 31 in Cardiff, although ‘AJ’ addressed their points made at the media gathering.
“When you talk about myself getting dropped and what you done, it’s a marketability strategy,” said Joshua.
“When you want to talk about facts – the three times that I have been hurt or dropped was in the European Championships when McCracken knows I was actually banned from the GB team because I was still getting in trouble.
“I stopped boxing and two weeks before that European Championship, I was called up to the country. I was very unfit, I didn’t get dropped. I got stopped. When your tank is empty, it’s hard to perform.
“The second time was David Price. I had come out of a police cell the day I went up to training. I’m not going to use it as an excuse, but David Price is a puncher, and it was lack of experience.
“With Klitschko, all those times it told me, it will take more than a human to stop me from where I’m destined to be, and that’s what I learned.
“In terms of using it as a PR stunt. The rumours that you have heard, they’re fake news. Hand on my heart. PR, whatever you want to use it for, is between you and your camp.”
Joshua has the opportunity to add Parker’s WBO belt to the three already in his possession before potentially securing an undisputed clash with Deontay Wilder in the summer.
