The better man won on the day: Parker

CARDIFF: Joseph Parker surrendered his WBO heavyweight world title yesterday following a 12round dogfight with unbeaten Brit Anthony Joshua at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

The 26yearold Aucklander became the first man to stretch Joshua, who moves to 210, the full distance but was defeated by unanimous decision.

Two of the three judges scored it 118110 in Joshua’s favour with the third giving it to the London Olympic champion 119109.

Parker, who earned £7 million ($12.8 million) for his trouble with Joshua pocketing £15 million, told Sky Sports after the fight he had no regrets.

‘‘The bigger and better man won on the day,’’ he told a press conference. ‘‘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.’’

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With an ultimate unification bout against WBC champion Deontay Wilder on the line, Joshua was mostly dominant.

There were few clean punches in a tense opening stanza as both boxers felt each other out, an energetic Parker unable to stop Joshua dominating the middle of the ring.

A cut above Parker’s left eye was evident from the third round as he was again forced to expend energy trying to move a steadfast Joshua around.

He managed a few good punches in the fifth before unleashing a torrent following a Joshua uppercut not dissimilar to the one which ended Wladimir Klitschko’s career at Wembley Stadium last year.

But by the time the cut above his eye worsened in the 10th both the raucous crowd and Joshua could smell blood.

A crowd of almost 80,000 was on hand at Wales’ national stadium, with American legend Sugar Ray Leonard and former Chelsea and Netherlands striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink among those ringside.

Sections of the crowd booed the Samoan and New Zealand national anthems before the fight.— AAP