Joshua set for heavyweight showdown with Parker

Joseph Parker is expected to be in London on Thursday to confirm his heavyweight unification clash with Anthony Joshua, Sportsmail can reveal. His promoter David Higgins flew to England yesterday to wrap up the final details of the bout, which is likely to be on March 31.

Negotiations for the showdown have been drawn out but are extremely close to a conclusion, with WBO champion Parker understood to have settled for around 33 per cent of the fight purse.

Joshua, the IBF and WBA title holder, stands to make in the region of £15m for his first fight of 2018, with up to two more bouts lined up for this year.

The Principality Stadium in Cardiff is expected to be confirmed as the venue for the fight, seeing a return to Wales for Joshua after he stopped Carlos Takam under the roof in Wales in October, maintaining his 20-fight unbeaten record.

Parker will be a significant challenge, even if Joshua will be a strong favourite. The New Zealander has won all 24 of his fights, 18 by knockout. But he looked desperately underwhelming in beating Hughie Fury by majority decision in Manchester last year.