Joseph Parker aiming for AJ

Joseph Parker’s promoter David Higgins says a unification bout with Anthony Joshua is his fighter’s goal for next year.

The WBO heavyweight champion extended his unbeaten professional reacord to 24 fight on Saturday with a majority decision points win over Hughie Fury on Saturday and is now aiming to further establish himself.

Joshua is already booked for the remainder of the year, with him set to fight Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev in Cardiff on October 28.

IBF, IBO and WBA (Super) champion AJ is widely expected to come through, with him the 1.04 favourite, while mandatory challenger Pulev can be found at a sizeable 13.00.

The Kiwi’s camp are now looking elsewhere and options include a bout against the winner of the rematch between David Haye and Tony Bellew, while they have also been in touch with Bob Arum about potentally heading Stateside.

However, there is no doubting what their overall plan is, with Higgins admitting that the 25-year-old is itching for a shot at Joshua in 2018.

“Bellew is fighting Haye I think, and so we could look at the winner of that,” Higgins told Sky Sports.

“They’ll all want to fight Joe even more now. They will underestimate him, because Hughie is the sort of guy that you’ll take the distance.

“Joshua is the sort of fight, a unification fight, that we could look at next year, provided both guys keep winning.

“After our first defence in Britain, we might be looking at other parts of the world for the end of the year, then returning to the UK next year. There is also the United States with our commercial partner Bob Arum.”