Boxing: Joshua wins unanimously against Parker on points

Anthony Joshua has won the heavyweight World Championship fight against Joseph Parker (NOW in RE-LIVE on DAZN). The Englishman won unanimously on points (118:110, 119:109, 118:10) against his opponent from New Zealand in the sold-out Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, with 78,000 spectators.

Joshua now has the WBO belt in his possession, in addition to the titles of the IBF, IBO and WBA associations. Probably this year there will be a fight between AJ and the American WBC world champion Deontay Wilder.

In Cardiff, Joshua was the better man in the ring in the first four rounds without scoring any special goals. Parker was too passive and had difficulty finding the right distance.

Parker was not more aggressive until lap five and especially in lap six. Twice the 26-year-old AJ chased wildly and uncontrollably through the ring, once he even caught him with a decent uppercut. Even though it was a bit more complicated for the favourite, he still had the fight under control with his jab.

28-year-old Joshua, who retired Wladimir Klitschko in April 2017 and had since defended his title against Frenchman Carlos Takam, set the pace a little higher in the eighth round. Parker, on the other hand, was gradually abandoned by his forces.

Since Parker Joshua did not pose any problems in the following period, he did not have to take any unnecessary risks. Joshua knew that he was unassailable in his points lead and even accepted not to end a fight prematurely for the first time in the 21st professional fight of his career.

While AJ remains undefeated, Parker, who had a slight cut in his left eye towards the end of the fight and simply showed too little over 12 laps, suffered his first defeat in the 25th professional fight.

“Twelve laps was tough, Joseph is a champion,” Joshua said: “He had announced a battle, but I knew this was about finesse. I controlled him, it was important.”

Joshua also made it clear that he is determined to fight Wilder: “There is no doubt about my plan. Put Wilder in the ring and I’ll kill him. “We don’t have to go to the US to do this, we can do it here in the UK.”