The fight was held at Auckland's Trust Arena tonight. Photo / Getty
The fight was held at Auckland's Trust Arena tonight. Photo / Getty
Joseph Parker maintained his unbeaten record and took another step on his path to a world heavyweight title challenge by dispatching Kali Meehan with a technical knock-out in three rounds at The Trusts Arena in Auckland tonight.
The result is Parker's 16th consecutive win and 14th by knock out since2012 and sets him up to finish the year in style with a Hamilton fight scheduled for December, before a proposed bout in Samoa in the new year.
After commenting during the build-up that his son Willis packed a harder punch than his opponent, the 45-year-old Meehan might feel differently after feeling the brunt of 23-year-old Parker's power and speed.
Parker started confidently, feeling out Meehan before finding his range close to the corner and getting inside to connect with a range of blows.
The second round saw Meehan engage with gusto but the 45-year-old found himself against the ropes before both fighters unloaded with a flurry of punches to ramp up the excitement levels among the sold out crowd.
Image 1 of 8: Joseph Parker wins against Kali Meeha.
Meehan showed his renown ability to absorb punishment and looked to be pacing himself while regaining some ground by trading punches but was visibly troubled by several powerful body shots.
Early in the third, Parker sensed his chance and went in for the kill, knocking Meehan to the floor with a well-timed overhand right before the fight was stopped just after one minute.
Parker ranked this as his most significant win to date and believed the baton had been passed to him to go on in his search for more success.
"Yep. I used to watch him when I was younger and I've got a lot of respect for Kali but I believe it's our time now," said Parker.
"I'm going to take it as it comes, move up and hopefully fight around the world and take it from there."
Earlier in the night, the action began with Parker's stablemate Izu Ugonoh flooring Ghana's Ibrahim Labaran in the first round, before 20-year-old Willis Meehan, son of Kali, pummelled Leamy Tato to a swift defeat in the second round.
The third bout saw middleweight Gunnar Jackson dominate Daniel Maxwell, before Dave 'Brown Butterbean' Letele stepped up for his rematch with Kaleni Taeteli.
Taeteli was strong throughout the first two rounds but Letele finished strongly in front of his home crowd, with two judges awarding him the win and a third calling it a draw.
The fifth and premier undercard clash saw Australian welterweight Jeff Horn outclass tenacious Argentinian Alfredo Blanco over 10 rounds.
