Joe Joyce The Toughest Fighter Who Stops Joseph Parker For The First Time
FightersTalkTV.com – Britain’s Joe Joyce walked through everything New Zealander Joseph Parker had to offer to knock him out in the 11th round of a heavyweight thriller in Manchester. Manchester’s AO Arena witnessed a breakout performance from Joe ‘The Juggernaut’ Joyce as he systematically broke down New Zealand’s former heavyweight world champion Joseph Parker.
In a fight that was dubbed a 50/50 contest heading into Saturday night, Joyce started fast to pepper out a stabbing jab and assert his authority on the smaller man Parker early on. The New Zealander certainly had a success of his own and landed a huge right-hand to the forehead of Joyce in the fourth.
Remarkably however the thirty-seven-year-old remained undeterred and continued to throw bundles of hooks of his own, a response which must have been demoralising for Parker who just seconds earlier landed the shot of the contest so far only for it to have little to no impact. As the fight reached the midway point, Parker looked to be slowing down, tiring under the relentless pressure of the man before him, his legs looking sluggish as he continued to try and evade the hounding work of the Juggernaut.
Joe Joyce needs eleven rounds for stop Joseph Parker.
Joyce took the large majority of the middle rounds as he continued to grow more and more dominant on the night, and opened a cut on the left eye of Parker in the seventh after a clean right-hand. Parker appeared to be hurt in the eighth by another punishing right, showing incredible heart and grit to stick it out as he continued to try and push Joyce back.
Parker, despite shipping a wealth of punishment already on the night, incredibly fought on and looked to regain a second wind in the tenth as Joyce finally showed a human side and looked to take a breather. The New Zealander took the round but Joyce continued to remind his opponent of his greater physicality, making Parker work every second of the round.
The eleventh, a round that seemed out of reach for Parker given the state he looked to be in halfway through the bout, finally saw the end of the contest. Perhaps an accumulation of the punishment he had shipped in the previous ten rounds as well as the sheer exhaustion of everything he had put into the contest, Parker found himself on his back in the home corner following a near perfect left-hook thrown by the Juggernaut which caught the New Zealand man flush with a minute of the round remaining.
Referee Steve Gray began to administer a count, with Parker remarkably summoning the will to regain his footing by the time the count reached eight but it was clear that there was little need for the contest to continue with the writing seemingly on the wall for the thirty-year-old. Gray eventually waved the contest off, a merciful decision after a brave showing from Parker, while Joyce gets his breakout moment to announce himself as one of the standout fighters in the division.
A crashing left-hook finally put a dent in Parker who had shown incredible heart throughout the contest.
Despite defeats to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte, Joseph Parker told ID Boxing in the post-fight press conference that Joyce was his toughest challenge yet.
“At this stage of my career, Joe was the toughest challenge. As you guys saw tonight, the pressure that he put on, and every time I hit him he kept coming back, and we knew exactly what he was going to do, but, you know, I just… everything didn’t work as I thought it would, but hey, it’s boxing.”
When asked to compare Joyce to his previous opponents, Parker shared his honest opinions, “He’s very tough. Compared to other fighters, listen, you guys saw tonight, he put on a lot of pressure. So congratulations to him and he’s one hell of a fighter.”
The heavyweights went toe-to-toe in a back and forth contest before a stunning left hook landed flush on the chin of Parker.
Joyce claimed the WBO interim heavyweight title with the biggest win of his career and now has his eyes set on challenging heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in 2023.
Joyce is now mandatory challenger for Oleksandr Usyk’s WBO title.
The Briton’s step up in class had been debated after 14 professional fights against lower-level opponents. He turned 37 this week having only turned pro when he was 31 after a late start to his amateur career.
But Joyce showed a granite chin to become the first man to stop Parker, a former world champion.
The thirty-seven-year-old Joyce then called out unified champion Oleksandr Usyk in his post-fight interview after confirming himself as the WBO mandatory for the Ukrainian in what would be a mouth-watering affair between two men who already have history after fighting in the amateur code years ago.
“Joseph Parker… what a fighter and what a fight,” Joyce said.
“It was a tough fight and praise to Parker. I really enjoyed it and I had to dig deep to get through the rounds. I hit him with everything I’ve got, I tried it all and he was still coming forward.
“I managed to drop him at the end but it was hard work. Usyk let’s get it on.”
