Joseph Parker 'clutching at straws' says the heavyweight who ko'd Anthony Joshua

The man who knocked over Anthony Joshua says Joseph Parker's team is "clutching at straws" in the way they have attacked Joshua.

Joshua's chin has been turned into a major talking point by Camp Parker, as the boxers prepare for the heavyweight unification bout in Cardiff at the end of March.

British heavyweight David Price has detailed flooring Joshua during a sparring session, in the wake of the Parker camp's claims about Joshua's ability to take a big punch.

Price has told Sky Sports the incident occurred during their only sparring session, in 2011.

"They are clutching at straws. It's funny that the world champion is having to justify his chin," the 34-year-old Liverpudlian said.

"There's no shame in being knocked down by me. If he was knocked down by a light puncher, or a light-heavyweight, then yes.

"I don't knock many people out in sparring, with those big gloves. When I did that to him, I wondered: is he fragile?

"Then I heard he was stopped in the European Championships. But now, he's proving to be okay. He didn't go into a shell, and he isn't gun shy. He got rocked by Dillian Whyte and put down by Klitschko, but he can hold a shot.

"I landed a hard shot, a good shot. Similar to the shot Wladimir Klitschko landed on him. I caught Joshua with a throwaway left hook. I sold him that, then caught him with a big right hand.

"He fell forwards, onto his face. He went down heavily. He tried to get up but was on unsteady legs, and the trainer pulled him out."

Price said he first brought up the sparring incident last year in an effort to generate interest in a world title fight with Joshua.

"Normally, sparring is just sparring. But when there's an opportunity at a world title on the line, I thought I'd get the information out there," he said.

Joshua told a London press conference this week he had been in a police cell and driven up from London on the morning of that 2011 sparring session.