Joseph Parker is adamant he could have continued when the referee waved off his chance to contest another world title but after his devastating defeat to Fabio Wardley, he accepted the loss with grace and vowed to fight on.
Referee Howard Foster drew the ire of many boxing fans when he prematurely stopped an engrossing war between Parker and Wardley in the 11th round at London’s 02 Arena.
Comfortably ahead on the scorecards after largely dominating the middle stages of the absorbing battle Parker was rocked by Wardley’s right hand and trapped on the ropes when Foster stopped the fight 1m 54s into the penultimate round.
Parker could have attempted to clench or possibly take a knee to gain time to recover but without returning fire, Foster determined he had absorbed enough punishment to end the Kiwi’s hopes of finally securing a crack at undisputed heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk.
A fourth loss, his first in three years, is a huge setback that will force Parker to consider his future.
Despite the obvious disappointment in the immediate aftermath of this defeat he was typically magnanimous.
“Congratulations to Fabio Wardley. He’s a warrior,” Parker said. “At the end of the fight I thought I was fine.
“I wanted to carry on but I’m not the referee, I’m not the one controlling the fight. We gave it our best and he won so he’s the better man.
“He won the fight fair and square and now he’s moving on to a bigger fight.”
Parker’s trainer Andy Lee refused to begrudge the way in which the fight finished.
“Joe was taking a lot of shots but a lot of them he was blocking and slipping,” Lee said.
“He was taking some and there was an opportunity for the fight to be stopped.
“Do I think it was fair? It was a battle wasn’t it? It could have been the other way around. That’s the nature of the sport. Heavyweight boxing, that’s the way it is.
“I thought Joe was ahead in the fight and boxing very well but you have to give credit to Fabio, he found a good punch.
“You can have the best game plan in the world but that’s why they call it the equaliser because it equalises everything. I’m very proud of Joe. He fought his heart out.”
Queensberry promoter Frank Warren, who has Wardley and Parker signed to his stable, backed the referee’s judgment.
“That was spot on that stoppage,” Warren said. “Anybody who moans about that… what do they want? To see him completely poleaxed on the floor? He wasn’t firing back. If you’re not throwing punches back that’s the end of it.”
Parker dished out more than his share of punishment to lead the scorecards at the time of the stoppage but the unbeaten Wardley, as he did in his last outing against Australian Justis Huni, summoned the decisive blows to rally to a late upset through his vaunted power.
Parker’s face was notably swollen post-fight but, at this stage, he remains determined to return to the ring.
Falling back to the congested heavyweight pack, after coming so close to seizing the dream of a crack at Usyk’s four world titles, will challenge his desire to continue in a brutal arena such as this.
“He’s a tough man. I felt I had him many times but he showed character to keep coming back,” Parker said.
”Credit to him for being able to take those shots and bounce back and show resilience.
“He caught me with a few shots and I was like ‘oh nice’ but we both took on the challenge.
“He was confident, he had self-belief and he showed he’s a warrior. All I can say is congratulations and all the best for what’s next. Hopefully we can have a rematch.
“It sucks losing a fight. I’m not going to sit here and pretend I’m happy but life goes on. Boxing is part of what I do but I’m very blessed with a wife, kids and a happy family so I’m going to go back to them and see what’s next.
“I’m going to continue. It’s just a bump in the road. I felt good out there. I still have the fight in me. I have to show that in the next fight, otherwise if it doesn’t go my way again then it will be very difficult.”
With one fight remaining on their existing Queensberry contract Warren backed Parker to return after his six-fight resurgence was halted by his fourth loss to a British heavyweight.
“It’s easy to write fighters off when someone gets beaten. Joe has come back before and I’m sure if he wants to he can do it again,” Warren said.
”If he does want to do it, we’re here with him because he’s a good fella and we’ve built a good relationship.”
To the victor, the glory.
Wardley’s remarkable rise from turning to boxing as a 20-year-old with no amateur experience to the cusp of a shot at the undisputed crown is Hollywood script-worthy.
On technical ability alone he’s nowhere near Usyk’s elite level but Wardley reinforced his durable chin and destructive power.
Despite being staggered on multiple occasions, Wardley claimed Parker never rocked him.
“I don’t want to say it to take away from Joe because it’s not like he’s a soft puncher at all but I wasn’t hurt, I wasn’t buzzed,” Wardley said.
“I got caught being lazy and wrong footed. I over committed and got caught falling around but you saw the way I came into it in the second round, it didn’t change anything for me.
“Coming off the run he was on, the build back, he didn’t have to take this fight. And there were a lot of people who didn’t want to take this fight.
“I’m dangerous for a bunch of reasons. We wanted to go to the top of the tree. All credit to Joe. I thank him from the bottom of my heart for the opportunity. I believe he can come again so hopefully we see him again.
“I’m sure there will be a lot of things written about how I was seconds away from losing or I’m not going to beat Usyk. I’m not here to please everyone else. I’m here to chase my dream, my journey.”
That journey now progresses to the ultimate stage, with a showdown against Usyk expected early next year.
Parker, in time, must push past this heartbreaking defeat to determine his future.
Liam Napier is a Senior Sports Journalist and Rugby Correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast.