Parker eyes AJ after Fury victory
NEW Zealand’s Joseph Parker said he had the skills to exploit Anthony “AJ” Joshua’s “weaknesses” after beating Hughie Fury by a majority points decision to defend his WBO world heavyweight title.
Parker condemned Fury, cousin of former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, to a first professional defeat in a scrappy fight at Manchester Arena on Saturday, which the judges scored 118-110, 118-110, 114-114.
The 25-year-old has now set his sights on a unification bout with British WBA and IBF champion Joshua, who fights Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev in Cardiff in October.
“I feel I have better movement,” Parker said after extending his unbeaten record to 24 fights, with 18 wins by KO. “He’s got good power and is a good champion, but if I fight him, I can bring out the weaknesses.”
Parker’s promoter, David Higgins, said Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn had already made contact about a fight next year.
“He wants to unify and so do we,” said Higgins, who is eager for Parker to fight again this year.
Fury’s promoter, Mick Hennessy, was furious about the decision and compared his fighter’s display to Muhammad Ali. He also pledged to appeal against the decision.
“It was an absolute masterclass – shades of Ali. It was beautiful boxing in the heavyweight division,” Hennessy told BBC Radio 5 Live. “Parker wasn’t even in the fight. Any punches he was throwing were either missing or hitting elbows or hitting gloves.
“It was very rare he got through with a clean shot. Hughie absolutely skated that fight. That is probably one of, if not the worst, decisions I’ve ever seen in my life. It was disgusting, absolutely disgusting.”
Fury, 23, echoed Hennessy’s words. “I thought I’d done enough,” said Fury, who was supported by Tyson Fury. “There are no words. At the end of the day, [the judges] are ruining people’s dreams.
“I don’t know what the judge was seeing – he kept missing. Devastating. Judges like that shouldn’t be there.”
Terror attack venue
A lot of the rounds were close, with few clean and powerful punches landed, but it was Fury’s movement and flicking jab that gave the champion problems in the first six rounds especially.
It was the first boxing event at the Manchester Arena since 22 people were killed by a terror attack after a pop concert in May.
The venue was only opened earlier this month and Fury had hoped to dedicate victory to the victims.
Fury is the cousin of Tyson Fury, who won the WBO, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles by pulling off a shock points win over Wladimir Klitschko in Germany in November 2015.
Tyson, who has not fought since and is no longer a champion, was at ringside.
In the third round, Parker stalked Fury without much success and was caught by a right at close range on the ropes. Parker was better in the fifth and landed a few right hands but he could not land his big punches cleanly and Fury, behind his fast jab, was able to respond in the sixth with an eyecatching right uppercut.
Parker opened up a bit more in the eighth round and stepped up the pace in the ninth when a flurry of punches and an overhand right found the target. Fury was content to stay behind his jab in the 10th which interrupted Parker’s momentum and in the last round he came out swinging.
Parker landed a big right early in the 12th and then another big right over the top for a strong finish.
But it was Fury’s corner who thought they had won the fight at the final bell.