Joseph Parker vs Dillian Whyte was confirmed on Thursday, despite the fight coming a little out of nowhere.

Whyte has been openly looking for a big fight to push himself into the world title picture and was, at first, expected to face off with Kubrat Pulev.

That changed, however, on June 6th as rumours circulated for a Whyte vs Luis Ortiz fight - with some outlets appearing to confirm it.

But instead, it will be former WBO heavyweight champion Parker who will step into the ring with Whyte - three months after losing his title to Anthony Joshua.

And that's exactly why this fight has come about; the winner of Parker vs Whyte will move into contention for a rematch with Joshua.

Both men suffered their sole career defeats to Joshua, with Whyte having been knocked out in December 2015.

Parker, of course, lost by unanimous decision back on March 31st and thus the motivation is there en masse for each fighter.

As for Joshua, he gave his unique perspective on the fight to Sky Sports - and he believes he knows who wins.

"Very, very, very good fight," said Joshua. "If you ask who I'm backing, I'm going with Dillian and I'm going by knockout as well.

"I feel like Dillian ain't got nothing to lose - he's been screaming out world champions, saying he wants to fight here, he wants to fight there, and I feel like he wants to prove himself.

"Parker is strong, Parker can take a shot, but I feel like in my fight, he was on the back foot and I boxed clever, because I'm trying to set up the big fight with Wilder, so I wanted to box clever, so I could secure the next one, without taking no risks.

"But I feel like Dillian has got nothing to lose, everything to gain.

"He's going to go in there guns blazing and try and knockout Parker ASAP, secure the win, and get that world title shot."

And as for who hits the hardest - who would know better than AJ?

"Probably Dillian as well," said Joshua. "[He] hurt me in the second round.

"Parker didn't really land too many shots, so I was clever with my feet.

"What I done in the gym is what I done in the fight; I worked on my feet, kept him at range, so he didn't land a shot on me, to be honest.

"But, you know what it is? Imagine me fighting Parker when I fought Dillian - it would have been a very difficult fight.

"I've improved from then, so I was making a lot of mistakes - maybe that's why I was getting hit with cleaner shots.

"But they are both talented fighters, they are both at world level, they're world championship level fighters and I give them both credit, and I wish them both well."