Joseph Parker underwent surgery in both elbows back in Nov. 2017 but is said to be better than ever ahead of fighting Anthony Joshua. WBO champion Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) is set to face Joshua in a IBF-WBA-WBO heavyweight unification clash at Cardiff's Principality Stadium on March 31. However, despite news emerging that the New Zealand boxer underwent surgery back in his home country last year, Parker's promoter David Higgins believes this is a positive heading into the fight.
"He's had this injury since 2016," Higgins told ESPN. "He's got his snap in his jab back and this really is a good news story.
"This was the worst kept secret in boxing so we finally decided to let it out. It's good news.
"Everything has been timed to suit this, so there's nothing bad about it from Parker's perspective. It's been a great camp."
Along with Higgins' belief it won't affect Parker in the fight, his orthopaedic surgeon Craig Ball remains adamant the WBO champion will have "more speed" in the ring after a remarkable recovery.
"I've been a professional orthopaedic shoulder and elbow specialist for over 15 years so this is a very common surgery for me to do," Ball said.
"It was remarkable what he was able to do before he needed the operation, particularly with his boxing, given the findings from the CT at the time of surgery.
"A very unusual thing that I've observed is how quickly he was able to get better afterwards and obviously the aim was to improve the range of motion.
"More importantly in my professional opinion, I think by losing that impingement pain that he would have, that will almost certainly give him a little bit more speed and probably power with his punch, too.
"He's not having that pain limiting him every time he's trying to throw something."
Parker's last outing was against Hughie Fury back in Sept. 2017, where he claimed a majority points win.
