Joseph Parker, beaten but not bowed after his shock defeat to Fabio Wardley in London this morning, says he wants to continue in boxing – “I still have the fight in me”.
Speaking after being stopped in the 11th round by Englishman Wardley, a big underdog, albeit an undefeated one heading into the fight at the O2 Arena, Parker was philosophical about his loss and the nature of it.
The 33-year-old, sporting a cut near his left eye, was ahead on points but was caught by a right hand from Wardley which suddenly changed the fight.
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His 30-year-old opponent, buoyed by his success, closed in and trapped Parker on the ropes with an assault that was stopped by English referee Howard Foster. It was Parker's fourth defeat in 40 professional fights and only the second time he has been stopped.
Many observers felt Foster stepped in too early, and that Parker, clearly tired but not necessarily hurt, is an elite fighter who deserved the benefit of the doubt.
The other side of the argument is that Parker, hurt in the second round by Wardley, should have clinched and held on to his opponent. While Parker did respond by throwing two wild punches in the 11th, he did not attempt to spoil Wardley’s work and that left the door open for Foster’s intervention.
“Congratulations to Fabio Wardley, he’s a warrior,” Parker said afterwards. “At the end of the fight I thought I was fine but I’m not the ref, I’m not the one controlling the fight.
“He’s a tough man. He was confident and had self-belief. All I can say is congratulations and good luck for what’s next. Hopefully we can have a rematch.”
Trainer Andy Lee, asked whether the stoppage came too early, said: “Joe was taking a lot of shots but a lot of them he was blocking and slipping. But he was taking some and there was an opportunity for the fight to be stopped.
Joseph Parker was magnanimous in defeat against Fabio Wardley in London and had no complaints about the referee's decision to stop the fight. (Source: 1News)
“Do I think it was fair? It was a battle. It could have been the other way around. One punch here or there. It’s the nature of the sport. It’s heavyweight boxing. That’s the way it is.
“I thought Joe was ahead of the fight and boxing very well. but you have to give credit to Fabio, he found a good punch.”
Wardley’s right hand, notorious before the fight for the way it helped him beat Australian Justis Huni in his last bout, did it again against Parker.
The victory represented the continuation of a remarkable career for a former recruitment consultant with no amateur pedigree who has been boxing for less than 10 years.
Parker, a world champion in 2016, has had to work extremely hard to get back to the apex of the sport since losing his title to Anthony Joshua in Cardiff in 2018 and suffering a similarly deflating loss to Dillian Whyte at the same London venue in the same year.
But the south Aucklander maintains he is ready to regroup and keep fighting, saying he was not hurt against Wardley and could easily have continued.
Wardley’s win has put him on the brink of an undisputed world heavyweight title shot against Oleksandr Usyk next year.
Should Wardley lose that, and Ukrainian Usyk, a generational talent, will be a massive favourite, a rematch against Parker would be a popular option for the Englishman's next fight.
Promoter Frank Warren said: “Obviously he [Wardley] is going to have his fight and then after that why not? It’s a great fight – everybody would want to see that again.
“It was such an exciting fight with the ebbs and flows – it’s a no-brainer.”
Parker came into the fight as the WBO interim world champion and a mandatory challenger to Usyk's WBO world title weighing a relatively heavy 119kg but he and Lee said they would not have changed anything in terms of preparation or game plan.
Parker was clearly eager to score a knockout – that was obvious from the first round. He did not appear to seriously hurt Wardley but scored with an impressive comination at the end of the first and did have him in trouble in the ninth and 10th rounds before Wardley’s remarkable comeback.
“It sucks, it sucks losing a fight,” Parker said. “I’m not going to sit here and pretend I’m happy about it. But life goes on. Boxing is part of what I do but I’m very blessed with a wife and kids and family so I’m going to be back to them. We’ll regroup and see what’s next.
“I don’t regret anything I do. It’s boxing. Life is bigger than boxing and boxing is part of what I do. I’m going to continue to go on.
“It’s just a bump in the road. I still want to carry on. I felt good out there.
“I still have the fight in me. I guess I have to show that in the next fight.”
Of Wardley’s ability to take a punch, Parker said: “I felt I had him many times but he kept coming back. I have to give him credit for being able to take those shots and bounce back and show resilience in the fight.”
Asked how he felt a fight between two undefeated and very different men in Usyk and Wardley would go, Parker said: “There’s only one way to find out – left them fight.”
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