Parker blasts away Winters
‘‘I’m a work in progress.’’ Joseph Parker
New Zealand heavyweight Joseph Parker produced the strong performance he so desperately wanted and needed with a TKO of Shawndell Winters in Texas yesterday.
Parker, coming off a frustrating period of inactivity, blew away the North American champion with vicious flurry of punches in the fifth round of a scheduled 10 at the Ford Centre in Frisco.
The 28-year-old Parker will now look to get a much bigger fight in the northern summer as he builds some momentum for a second run at the world title.
The win will help his case as Parker’s manager David Higgins enters negotiations with British promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing for a contract extension for the former WBO champion.
The rugged Winters, a latecomer to the sport having just his 16th fight at the age of 39, talked an aggressive game and managed to cut Parker’s right eye, though there was debate over whether that came from a punch or a clash of heads.
But Winters was kept mostly on the back foot by Parker who regularly worked his trademark jab to dictate the fight, following up with the bigger shots.
Parker, enjoying a 17kg advantage, used that to good effect.
Parker floored Winters with a big right hand late in the third round and the American was wobbly as he stood and he got saved by the bell.
Parker couldn’t capitalise on that in a competitive fourth round. He let Winters get his legs back and also got drawn into an unnecessary rumble that saw him return to his corner with some work to do for cut man
Jacob ‘‘Stitch’’ Duran who had been brought into the Kiwi’s corner for this fight.
But Parker regained his composure in the fifth round and found his range beautifully.
He again put Winters on the back foot and then pounced on him with a deadly combination of three rights and a left that put Winters on the canvas again and this time the referee stepped in to call it off.
It was a display of power
much-needed after an eightmonth layoff.
Parker was a tough critic of his own performance, happy to take the win but saying he needed to be more patient and unhappy at being drawn into a brawl a times.
‘‘It’s always good to get a win and good to get a knockout,’’
Parker said. ‘‘But I’ve still a lot to work on . . . being more patient, I got sucked into fighting inside which wasn’t the plan. I got a bit excited . . . you want to go over there and smash him.
‘‘But every time I boxed on the outside it was good. The power comes at the end of my punches so a little bit of distance would have been good.’’
Parker rated his performance around 60 per cent.
‘‘That’s because I know I can box better than that. I’m a work in progress. Back to the gym and working at your craft, you’re never perfect.’’