Anthony Joshua beats Joseph Parker on Points to Become WBA, IBF and WBO Champ

Anthony Joshua beats Joseph Parker on Points to Become WBA, IBF and WBO Champ

Anthony Joshua was taken the distance for the first time in his professional career before securing a unanimous points decision in his world heavyweight title unification fight with Joseph Parker in Cardiff Saturday.

All three judges unsurprisingly scored the fight 118-110, 118-110, 119-109 in Joshua’s favour after a controlled performance that was too frequently interrupted by the referee.

Nigerian-born Joshua, who now holds the IBF, WBA and WBO belts, takes his staggering record to 21-0, while New Zealander Parker tasted his first defeat after 25 fights.

A blockbuster showdown with WBC champion Deontay Wilder now seems inevitable after Joshua took time to call him out post-fight, saying: “Wilder, let’s go baby.

“Bring him here and I’ll knock him spark out.”

Joshua, looking chiselled having tipped the scales at 109.7kg, took charge in the centre of the ring early in the first round with his jabs.

A cut around Parker’s left eye was evident from the third round, and the big Brit tagged his opponent with a solid left in the fourth and landed again seconds before the bell ended that round.

But Parker made some good connections in the fifth and there was a furious exchange early in the sixth, before Italian referee Giuseppe Quartarone, as he was wont to do, intervened.

Both boxers were clearly frustrated by the referee’s early interventions just when it seemed either one of them might unload with a sequence of punches as the crowd made their anger known with ringing boos.

The cut round Parker’s left eye worsened and blood emerged from the wound in the tenth round, but he kept on gamely until the final bell.