Joseph Parker’s dream of becoming world champion again has turned into a nightmare at the hands of Englishman Fabio Wardley this morning, a technical knockout defeat sending the Kiwi’s career off the rails.
Parker, a huge favourite to beat Wardley at London’s O2 Arena, was stopped in the 11th round, referee Howard Foster stepping in after Parker was trapped on the ropes and taking punishment without responding to the official’s satisfaction.
For Wardley, it was a case of all or nothing because he was down on the cards and being outboxed by Parker, but the notorious power in his right hand, which saved him in his last fight against Australian Justis Huni, again prevailed.
The ultimate prize is a fight against undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk next year, and, rather than Parker taking that next step it is Wardley, a 30-year-old with no amateur background who got into the sport via corporate boxing.
It is hard to overstate the devastation Parker, cut near his left eye at the start of the 11th which may have started the chain of events which led to the finale, and his team must be feeling.
After an excellent first round during which Parker showed his intentions with a late and aggressive flurry, Parker was badly hurt in the second round by Wardley and was trapped in his corner apparently unable or unwilling to respond.
Parker lost his mouthguard during the assault, the replacing of which gave him more time to recover, and it was a foreshadowing of the remarkable end.
However, after the two even rounds that followed that second-round setback, Parker took control of the fight with his jab and left hook and had Wardley in trouble in the ninth and 10th rounds before his English opponent responded.
Wardley, now undefeated after 20 professional fights, had appeared to be the ideal opponent for Parker - easy to hit, relatively inexperienced and with a predictable attack, and there will be questions about whether he was underestimated.
Parker entered the fight at a relatively heavy 119kg and was clearly looking for an early stoppage as a way to make a statement.
"All respect to Joseph Parker - he deserves respect from the boxing community. He took a chance when he didn't have to against a risky fighter in myself," Wardley said afterwards.
This was Parker’s fourth loss in his 40th professional fight and only the second time he was been stopped.
Such is his greater experience, the match-up in front of top English heavyweights including Tyson Fury, Joe Joyce and Daniel Dubois, as well as others such as Jarrell Miller and Agit Kabayel, was thought to be a formality, but Wardley had other ideas.
There will be a debate about Foster’s intervention and whether it was too early, but Parker had chances to grab and clinch Wardley but failed to take it. He can’t have any complaints.
In hindsight, a major part of the 33-year-old’s shocking defeat may be the fact that this was only his third fight in 19 months.
His run of incredible results against Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Martin Bakole has come to an end and the big question, now that he is no longer the WBO interim champion and mandatory challenger to Usyk's crown, is where to now for Parker?
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