Brit claims heavyweight crown
JOSEPH Parker surrendered his WBO heavyweight world title following a 12-round dogfight with unbeaten Brit Anthony Joshua at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
The 26-year-old Aucklander became the first man to stretch Joshua, who moves to 21-0, the full distance but was defeated by unanimous decision on Saturday.
The Watford-born 28-year- old now holds the IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA belts. Two of the three judges scored it 118-110 in Joshua’s favour with the third giving it to the London Olympic champion 119-109.
Parker, who earned STG7 million for his trouble with Joshua pocketing STG15m, said he had no regrets.
“The bigger and better man won on the day,” he said.
“We’ve just got to take it on the chin. Everything is learning, I could have done more but I didn’t really throw the punches I wanted to throw.
“I thought they (the judges’ margins) were a bit wide but that’s the judges, that’s their job. You can’t complain.”
Joshua, meanwhile, was full of praise for Parker.
“Forget the hype, Joseph Parker is a world champion. I knew he’d be determined. Sometimes this does become a boxing match, not a fight, so I made sure this would be about boxing finesse.”
With an ultimate unification bout against Deontay Wilder — and the chance to become the first undisputed world champion since 2000 — on the line, Joshua was mostly dominant.