Joseph Parker’s promoter David Higgins announced earlier this week that he was willing to walk away from negotiations if he did not get what he called a “fair deal” from Anthony Joshua’s camp over the pair’s proposed 2018 fight.

Parker currently holds the WBO heavyweight belt vacated by Tyson Fury – and a win against Parker would see Joshua pick it up and unify the division.

This works both ways, however, and should Parker beat AJ he would become the unified heavyweight champion of the world, something Higgins says shouldn’t be ruled out.

Going against the opinion of most British fans, Higgins claims that Parker would win the fight, as he’s better at taking the big hits than rival Joshua.

He said: “First of all, I think their camp has signalled they’re willing to talk and might [agree] to a better deal – so that’s positive.

“Secondly, on whether they’re trying to keep Parker at bay – that’s possible – we think Parker beats Joshua.

“We don’t think it’s an easy fight – it’s nearly 50/50 – but we think Parker wins simply because he has a better chin.

“Eddie can fast forward negotiations by going straight to the fair deal now and then we might see the fight happen in the first or second quarter of next year.

"But if they want to dig their heels in then we’ll wait until it’s a fair deal. They might want to go fight Wilder first –we’re relaxed about that – we would then seek to fight the winner.”

Higgins continued by saying that the AJ bout was not the only fight the Parker camp were looking into – and surprised many with talk of a potential matchup with Tyson Fury.

“And I think Wilder wins – just. Joshua is a good boxer and I also think a fit Tyson Fury would give everyone a handful and he’s good for boxing. He shoots from the lip and deserves a shot.

“I think Joseph Parker has the belt he vacated, so if he offered and wanted a crack back at his belt, we would be happy to talk to him about doing something at either Old Trafford or Manchester Arena.”

Maybe that will convince Eddie Hearn to push a little harder to do a deal with Parker before he steals AJ’s shot at Fury’s comeback fight.