Nick Parkinson
Anthony Joshua insists he feels no pressure to maintain his knockout run against Joseph Parker on Saturday.
The Briton has stopped all 20 opponents since turning professional, including former long-reigning world champion Wladimir Klitschko almost a year ago.
In Joshua's last defence of his WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, Joshua stopped late substitute opponent Carlos Takam in the tenth round.
Some wanted to see Joshua end it sooner against Takam, who stepped in 12 days before the fight.
Joshua, 28, knows there is expectation of him to deliver knockouts and his bout against WBO titleholder Parker is no different.
"[Floyd] Mayweather, as great as he is, goes 12 rounds the majority of the time, and everyone claps and says how great the performance was, but because I don't knock my opponent out in two rounds it's a bad performance," Joshua said.
"So you can't always be trying to please people, because you're never going to win. Everyone's got opinions. My job was to control Takam, move him around the ring where I wanted him, and secure the win so I could move forward to 2018, and I think that was a mature performance.
"I have to do the job for myself. It's about performance, not just about going in there, looking for him and going 'Bosh' and hoping he flies out of the ring.
"My job was to perform, control the fight, and he didn't give me any problems apart from the head-butt, and people are looking past the boxing IQ.
"If you don't knock an opponent out people are so interested in saying: 'He can't punch; why didn't he knock him out?,' rather than saying: 'Did you see that left hook he defended, and came back? Did you see that uppercut?'
"People aren't interested in boxing IQ anymore. That's why I study the game, because I respect that side of it."
But Joshua is confident he will continue his knockout streak against New Zealander Parker in front of an expected crowd of 78,000 under the roof of the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
"In my head I have to prepare for a 12 round fight, but if we're talking about where it will end, I'm hoping to go somewhere between seven and nine," said Joshua.
Saturday's world title unification fight, which is being shown live in over 200 countries, sees two unbeaten champions face each other but it is the Joshua who is regarded as the world's leading heavyweight.
Victory for Joshua will increase demand and speculation about a showdown with American Deontay Wilder, the WBC champion, in what would be boxing's first four-belt world heavyweight title unification clash.
And Joshua has warned his rivals he has yet to reach his prime.
"You're going to see me start priming, but I'm not in my prime yet," Joshua said. "When you see someone in your prime is when they stay at the top for four or five years, but when you see someone getting to their prime, that's what you'll start seeing now."
Ricky Hatton, who used to be British boxing's biggest star, expects Joshua to clinch victory in the second half of the fight.
"Parker has quick hands for a heavyweight and he could give Joshua problems for a few rounds," Hatton said.
"But can he do it for 12 rounds is the question. I don't think he can. I can see Joshua getting to him in the middle rounds and stopping him in the second half of the fight."
http://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/22964309/anthony-joshua-no-pressure-keep-ko-record-going-vs-joseph-parker
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