Australia collapse

The agony of the ball-tampering crisis is being compounded by more misery, with Australia tracking towards a heavy defeat in the fourth test against South Africa after falling apart with the bat on day two in Johannesburg. Only the rain forecast for the next three days on the Highveld appears likely to prevent an early finish to proceedings at the Wanderers after Australia’s newlook batting order offered up little resistance. Usman Khawaja contributed 53 to the lost cause, but his exit triggered a collapse that saw Australia lose 3-6 as Australia slumped to 96-6 in their first innings. They began the third day overnight trailing South

Africa by 378 runs. A 3-1 series defeat, their first in South Africa since the end of apartheid, now seems inevitable, although given the events of the past week it is really a side issue. DUNCAN JOHNSTONE IN CARDIFF

Joseph Parker is eager to set up his next fight quickly as he looks to bounce back from the first loss of his professional career.

The 26-year-old lost his WBO belt to unified champion Anthony Joshua in Cardiff yesterday but made it clear he wants to start the rebuild with urgency.

‘‘I want to set up another fight and come back strong,’’ Parker vowed.

‘‘We worked hard to get here, we all deserve a break to get home and spend some time with our families.

‘‘Once that’s done and once we are relaxed, we want to set up another fight straight away, we have an awesome year ahead.

‘‘We are still young, we’ve still got lot of time. We fought good, he was the better man on the day. But we will be back. I have to take it on the chin.’’

Parker said he would be keen on getting in the ring with Joshua again at some stage but that doesn’t look likely any time soon.

Joshua made it clear that WBC champion Deontay Wilder is his

Joseph Parker admitted he could have done more in a desperate final round as he lost his world title to Anthony Joshua.

A brave Parker took Joshua the distance for the first time in the big Brit’s career but lost a unanimous points decision by a wide margin – 118-110, 118-110, 119-109.

The writing was on the wall for Parker over the championship rounds in Cardiff yesterday but he couldn’t penetrate the armour of the classy Joshua.

He needed a knockout in the 12th and final round but it played out much like most of the fight, with Parker struggling to get on the front foot enough to pressurise Joshua into presenting an opening.

‘‘I was just trying to fight smart, maybe I was too cautious.’’ Joseph Parker

next target as he looks to add the final belt to his world title collection and become undisputed champion.

Parker’s promoter David Higgins believes his fighter is still a valuable commodity in the division and feels the UK is the most viable option to try to fast-track him back up the rankings.

Higgins said he was impressed

Parker said there were no stamina issues.

‘‘I felt fit but maybe (I was) too cautious,’’ the 26-year-old said.

‘‘I was just trying to fight smart, maybe I was too cautious.’’

A disappointed Parker was his harshest critic.

He conceded he hadn’t fired enough double-jabs to bring some hesitancy to Joshua, who commanded the middle of the ring for most of the fight and collected points with it.

with the way Parker was dealing with the defeat.

‘‘Some people get broken, he’s very philosophical,’’ Higgins said.

‘‘The chins are up in our dressing room – there is not a funeral.

‘‘I think the UK fans and media respect Joseph for the way he fought and what he brought. So we will be back.

‘‘Eddie Hearn and I get on

‘‘It’s learning. I could have done more, I didn’t really throw all the punches that I could. I guess it’s learning and coming back stronger.’’

Parker felt his movement was good and his body shots to Joshua were effective but he was unable to set up enough power shots to have a chance of toppling his larger opponent.

Forced to try to go to the inside, Parker wasn’t helped by a referee who frequently broke up the closerange exchanges to frustrate the

Kiwi camp which was happy to get in a slug-fest in the tight situations if necessary.

Parker said that Joshua hadn’t hurt him and suggested the cut over his left eye was from a Joshua elbow.

While Parker showed good snap in his jabs and punches in general, his trainer Kevin Barry lamented

really well. There will be an opportunity to speak to Eddie about matching Joseph against one of the other British heavyweights perhaps, the likes like Derek Chisora and Dillian Whyte, Tyson Fury if he’s getting fit.’’

Higgins felt being the first fighter to go the distance with Joshua and end his run of 20 consecutive knockouts needed to be more wasn’t done to maximise his fighter’s hand speed.

‘‘I think Joe hit the nail on the head when we had the training camp to work on the double jab. The double jab is very important, not only for an offensive weapon but for a defensive tool and Joe sort of drifted away from that a little bit,’’ Barry said.

They had strategised to be in the fight by the middle stages and try to surge home over the back half against an opponent they felt would weaken. To his credit, Joshua anticipated that, dropping weight and increasing his endurance.

‘‘I thought after six rounds it was out fight to win. Joshua had a really good first four rounds, he was moving well. Five, not so much, Joe touched him a few times in the fifth and the sixth.’’

acknowledged. ‘‘I don’t know what it would take to put Joseph down – he has still never been dropped,’’ he said of Parker’s game performance.

Trainer Kevin Barry felt now wasn’t the appropriate time to be talking about the next fight.

‘‘We just finished quite a big challenge. I’m pretty proud of this young man beside me,’’ Barry said.