"But he is going to come again. He wasn't good enough tonight but he's a very good fighter. We need people like Joseph Parker in the division. The more people that are active and are good quality heavyweights the better."
Anthony Joshua beats Joseph Parker - How the world reacted
Joshua also paid tribute to the Aucklander.
"Joseph played a massive part in this, his whole team did and I'm honoured to share the ring with him," he said.
"They came, they stepped up, they tried and they'll live to fight another day."
"Joseph won't give up now, he's still young. I think we'll definitely see Joseph Parker again."
As it happened: Joshua beats Parker by decision
Parker and his team took issue with referee Giuseppe Quartarone, even claiming the Italian couldn't speak English, but Joshua wasn't having a bar of it.
"Sometimes the judges get complaints, sometimes the ref gets a hard time from fans and fighters but I don't really like to put a bad name on refs and judges because they're there to do their job," he said.
"Parker's trainer should have advised him of ways to avoid getting disciplined, that's his job. Not to go against the referee but to find a way around the referee and what he's doing."