On Saturday evening in Manchester, Joe Joyce was unfazed, undeterred and unrelenting as he marched by way of Joseph Parker’s offence, defence and resilience to knock out the New Zealander within the eleventh spherical and declare the vacant interim WBO heavyweight title.
There have been criticisms of Joyce’s velocity, motion and creativity for the reason that Olympic silver medalist turned professional, however the Briton has compiled a 15-0 (14 KOs) unbeaten report by taking part in to his strengths, and that was precisely what he did towards Parker on this enthralling main-event contest on the AO Arena.
At 37, Joyce has time towards him in his quest to change into a world champion, but it surely didn’t present on Saturday. Joyce picked his moments correctly in Manchester, making use of fixed, measured strain towards Parker however solely rising the amount and depth of his output when completely vital.
Joyce established a wholesome lead with ahead motion, teasing jabs and well-timed energy punches, whereas New Zealand’s Parker demonstrated nice coronary heart to soak up his opponent’s only offence and hearth again with brutal physique hooks and the occasional scary haymaker.
Yet the “Juggernaut” frequently pressed ahead, indefatigable as he accepted Parker’s punches as if they had been “tickles”, one thing he had threatened to do forward of the bout.
As the cuts and bruises started to mount for Parker, who did his greatest to not wilt and to as an alternative conjure a end towards the chances, Joyce sensed that the tip needn’t wait till the ultimate bell.
The Briton disregarded a promising spell from Parker late within the tenth spherical and cast an early opening within the eleventh. With Parker retreating, Joyce hurled one remaining hook onto the Kiwi’s jaw, crumpling the 30-year-old towards the ropes.
Parker virtually oozed by way of them like liquid, however in some way slunk again to his toes. It was too late, nevertheless; he couldn’t beat the referee’s rely and was condemned to a primary stoppage defeat.
Joyce’s victory places him in line for a possible title shot towards the WBO’s official champion Oleksandr Usyk, who additionally holds the WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles.
The Briton even referred to as out the unbeaten southpaw instantly, referencing a well-known interview of the Ukrainian’s by saying: “Usyk, I’m very feel, let’s get it on.”
For Parker, in the meantime, this was his third defeat as knowledgeable. The 30-year-old (30-3, 21 KOs) beforehand misplaced to British heavyweights Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte in back-to-back bouts in 2018, with the loss to “AJ” seeing the Kiwi drop the WBO title.
In the co-main occasion on the AO Arena, unified girls’s featherweight champion Amanda Serrano bounced again from her slim loss to Katie Taylor, outpointing Sarah Mahfoud on all three judges’ scorecards.
Source: www.impartial.co.uk