Parker does enough to frustrate Fury's title hopes

MANCHESTER - Joseph Parker beat Hughie Fury in a majority points decision to retain his World Boxing Organization heavyweight title at Manchester Arena on Saturday night.

The New Zealander endured a frustrating night and did not look confident ahead of the scores being announced, but two judges favored him 118-110, with the other calling it a 114-114 draw.

For mandatory challenger Fury, 23, it was his first professional defeat in 21 fights while a second title defense for Parker improved his undefeated record to 24-0, 18 by KO.

After a scrappy fight, the two judges who scored it 10 rounds to two for Parker seemed generous as the Kiwi had not seriously troubled the British challenger.

"I feel I won it, but he put up a great fight," said Parker.

"I felt the aggression was good on my side. He was really awkward and his movement was good. But I caught him with the harder punches, I felt."

The 6-foot-6 Fury, cousin of former lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, boxed smartly in his first world title fight and his jab, along with his nifty footwork, frustrated Parker, who was unable to land cleanly.

"I don't know what happened there with the judges," said Fury. "I thought I did more than enough to win the decision."

Parker kept chasing and had more success in the second half of the fight to secure a victory that keeps him in contention for bigger fights next year, possibly against IBF champion Anthony Joshua.

A lot of the rounds were close, with few clean and powerful punches landed, but it was Fury's movement and flicking jab that gave the champion problems in the first six rounds.

It was the first boxing event at the Manchester Arena since 22 people were killed in a terror attack after a pop concert in May.

The venue was only opened earlier this month and Fury had hoped to dedicate victory to the victims.

Tyson Fury, who has not fought since he defeated Wladimir Klitschko for the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO titles in 2014, was cheering at ringside.

In the third, Parker stalked his opponent without much success and was caught by a right at close range on the ropes.

Parker was better in the fifth and landed a few right hands but he could not land his big punches cleanly and Fury, behind his fast jab, was able to respond in the sixth with an eye-catching right uppercut.

Parker opened up a bit more in the eighth round and stepped up the pace in the ninth when a flurry of punches and an overhand right found the target.

Fury was content to stay behind his jab in the 10th, which interrupted Parker's momentum. In the last round the challenger came out swining, but Parker landed a big right early and then another big right over the top for a strong finish.

Rematch in works

Talks for a rematch between undefeated middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and Mexican boxing hero Canelo Alvarez are expected to begin in the coming days, US media reported Saturday.

Golovkin, making his Las Vegas debut, fought to a draw with Alvarez on Sept 16 in a evenly-matched bout that lived up to its hype as a showdown between the top two middleweights in the world.

Both the 27-year-old challenger Alavarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) and the 35-year-old Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) said they wanted a rematch.

"It seemed like everyone came away from that fight with an unsatisfied feeling," Tom Loeffler, of K2 Promotions which oversees Golovkin's fights, told the Los Angeles Daily News.

"Hopefully we can get a rematch signed very quickly."

Agencies

(China Daily 09/25/2017 page23)