Parker and Joshua met in March 2018 at a stadium in Cardiff, UK. At that time they both had not yet known the bitterness of defeat in the pro ring and both owned championship belts. After twelve rounds, the judges gave the victory to the Brit with the score 119-109 and twice 118-110. At the end of the fight, Joshua added the WBO belt to his IBF and WBA titles.
Since then, Joshua has lost titles to Oleksandr Usyk, but was able to come back and put his four-fight winning streak on the line. Parker has also, since an early loss to Joe Joyce in September 2022, won five fights, the last two over Deontay Wilder and Zhang Zhilei.
On the back of such successes, Parker decided that his rematch with Joshua at this point would be particularly appropriate and spared no time in issuing a small and highly unusual creative challenge to his opponent.
Let's build a LEGO ring for Parker v Joshua 2 @anthonyjoshua????
- Joseph Parker (@joeboxerparker) April 10, 2024
????️: @kerryrusselltv pic.twitter.com/p67Vvozdrg