Parker reinvigorated

Being ringside for the Wilder-Fury fight made the Kiwi heavyweight want to be at the heart of the action again

Joseph Parker kept a close watch on the enthralling fight between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury and said the performances of the two heavyweights made him keener than ever to get back to the top.

Parker was ringside with trainer Kevin Barry at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday and attracted plenty of attention from fight fans — particularly those supporting Englishman Fury, who are beginning to know him well after the New Zealander’s recent fights in Manchester, Cardiff and London.

The former WBO world champion, who lost his title to Anthony Joshua and lost again to Dillian Whyte, begins what he hopes is a comeback with a fight against American Alexander Flores in Christchurch a week on Saturday.

And the razzmatazz before the fight for the WBC world heavyweight title, technical ability shown by both Fury and Wilder during it, and the dramatic finish and inability of the judges to pick a winner has fuelled Parker’s hunger.

“I was watching, I wanted to be in there,” Parker said. “It was really motivating, watching that fight. And the support we got was great recognition for our team.”

Parker, friendly with both American Wilder, who retained his title after the draw, and Fury, predicted the fight would be close. In fact, he couldn’t separate them beforehand.

Barry could, though. He predicted a knockout by Wilder and said Fury’s display after two years of inactivity and huge weight gain and loss was “masterful”. Barry felt Fury, knocked down in the ninth and 12th rounds but dominant in virtually every other, should have got the decision.

One judge awarded the fight to Wilder, one to Fury and one couldn’t separate them. In hindsight, it’s difficult to see how the judge favouring Wilder and the judge who scored it a draw could have given the American even five or six of the 12 rounds.

“He defeated huge odds — he showed a six foot, nine inch man with tremendous boxing skills, light feet and fast hands is very, very hard to beat,” Barry said.

“Wilder’s reputation speaks for itself but he just couldn’t time his punches, he couldn’t time them with the power shot, and we all saw the frustration as he missed round after round after round trying to hit him with his big right hand.

“Fury’s movement with upper body and lower body was tremendous. The way he was able to slip the right hand [of Wilder], it was beautiful boxing, no doubt about it.

“How anyone can do that to themselves, 150lb of weight [68kg], the drug problems, the mental health problems and then come back . . . even though he was on the canvas twice, he finished the fight the fresher man.

“Unbelievable. You have to give him huge props and you’d have to think if these guys fight a rematch that Fury would have to beat him easy the second time. I thought he was very unlucky not to get the decision.”

Fury normally favours a switchhitting style, but against Wilder, he rarely took a southpaw stance. That’s not to say he was completely orthodox, though, and his constant feints and movement of head and body made Wilder miss time and again.

It was a display of skill which would cause Joshua, the IBF, WBA and WBO champion, plenty of problems should the pair meet in the ring. The draw has complicated the division. Joshua was expecting to fight Wilder at Wembley in April but Wilder and Fury may instead fight again.

“The division from here — there’s a couple of ways of looking at this,” Barry said. “Does Wilder want to fight Fury again because it’s his choice. Was Dillian Whyte the biggest winner? Does this mean he will fight Joshua? I would say there is a pretty good chance these guys [Wilder and Fury] will fight again in April or May.

“The only concerning thing for me is Deontay Wilder has now defended his title eight times, he was fighting in the US and he was the underdog — the crowd was a British crowd.”

A rematch would almost inevitably be in the United Kingdom because of the support there and Fury’s reputation — which he enhanced significantly with a courageous and skilful performance which would have won him a lot of new fans.

Tyson Fury will appeal to the World Boxing Council against the judges’ decision to call his world title fight against Deontay Wilder a draw. Fury believed he won, despite being knocked to the canvas twice.

The Briton, his face marked and hands sore after the bout, said: “I’ve never seen a worse decision in my life. I don’t know what fight that judge who gave it 115-111 [to Wilder] was watching. That judge needs banning. He needs sacking or to go to Specsavers. Stuff like that gives boxing a bad name.”

The other two judges scored the fight 114-112 in Fury’s favour and 113-113, making it a split draw.

The judging of Mexican-American Alejandro Rochin was called into question after his 115-111 score and the fact he gave the first four rounds to defending champion Wilder.

Frank Warren, Fury’s promoter, insisted yesterday there would be an immediate appeal to WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman.

“We will be writing to the WBC, asking they review this, look at what has gone on and order a rematch,” he said. “Tyson’s the No 1 heavyweight in the world, the people’s champion, the winner of that fight.

“People I respect in boxing — Mike Tyson, Abel Sanchez, Gennady Golovkin, Teddy Atlas — all had it for him [Fury]. People who can actually judge boxing know he was the winner, as do the fans. You travel [abroad] if you think it will be a level playing field. Things like that [decision] make you want to fight at home.”

Fury added: “I haven’t seen as bad a decision since the first Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield fight. The world knows who the real WBC champion is. Wilder has had a gift decision in his home country. He must be thanking his lucky stars he still has the green and gold belt. That belt belongs to me.”

Former heavyweight king Lewis agreed, saying: “It happened to me and I knew it was going to happen to him. Everybody could see who won.”

On getting up miraculously in the 12th round from a vicious right cross, left hook combination from Wilder, Fury said: “Getting off the canvas is what true champions do. You can’t stop me getting up. I’m like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

Fury admitted he had no idea how he not only got back to his feet, but ended the fight on the front foot, with Wilder rocking.

“I was just taking my time to recover. If you jump up too quick, then sometimes your legs are gone. I took some time and my legs were perfect. It’s easy to beat me, you just have to nail me to the canvas.

“We want the rematch now. I did it for all the people following me, for people who have mental-health issues. I did myself, my family and my country proud. I calmed the situation down, there could have been a riot there [after the fight].

“Am I going to go Awol again? It was nothing to do with the media last time, it was not because of the spotlight. I was depressed, even before the Wladimir Klitschko fight. It’s different now, look at me, I’m well now. Boxing is one thing, but life is something different. Your health is your wealth.”