Anthony Joshua has claimed that losing is what makes boxers nervous more than anything else in the sport.

The unified champion of the heavyweight division currently boasts a perfect record of 20 fights, 20 wins and as many knockouts.

Joshua, the WBA and IBF world champion, faces WBO title holder Joseph Parker in Cardiff on March 31, with one fighter set to fall to their first professional defeat.

"In boxing, losing is the one thing you are nervous about," Joshua told Sky Sports News. "Nobody wants their '0' to go. You don't plan on getting beat, in every other sport you can lose and bounce back."

When asked by the reporter whether losing scared him personally, Joshua responded: "Yeah, because it is the sport we are in.

"[Roger] Federer is still known as a great but we don't know the 10 people who have beat him before. For boxing, that loss stays on your record for eternity. Losing doesn't define you though, it's how you move forward that defines you. You have to know where you are going.

"When I look at heavyweight boxing, you look at [Wladimir] Klitschko and he wanted to be a three-time heavyweight champion of the world, he lost and came back - If I lost, I'd dust myself off and go again. It would show people's mindset if they discredited everything I had done up until that point because of one defeat."

New Zealander Parker has 18 knockouts on his 24-fight unbeaten record.