https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngs4cxJDvNA
By Scott Gilfoid: Undefeated #1 IBF heavyweight contender Joseph Parker (21-0, 18 KOs) totally obliterated 6’7” Ukrainian Alexander Dimitrenko (38-3, 24 KOs) in stopping him in the 3rd round on Saturday night in a tune-up fight at the beautiful the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau, New Zealand.
Parker, 6’4”, knocked Dimitrenko down four times in the fight before the massacre was finally halted by referee Marlon Wright at 1:38 of the 3rd round. The ending was somewhat controversial though, as Parker hit Dimitrenko with a right hand body shot after forcing him down to the canvas while in a clinch.
It didn’t look like much of a punch from Parker. Never the less, Dimitrenko reacted in pain in delayed reaction to the body shot. Dimitrenko then rolled over on the canvas, grimacing in pain and chose not to get up. The referee Marlon Wright then counted Dimitrenko out. Like I said, it was controversial because Dimitrenko was hit while he was down on the canvas. Even before Dimitrenko was hit while on the canvas, the referee was seen waving his hands as if to say that it wasn’t a knockdown. However, the referee Marlon Wright then turned around and counted Dimitrenko out when he was hit with a body shot while he was down. It was weird stuff.
Dimitrenko says he’s going to protest the stoppage, as he felt that he’d been hit while he was down. Referee Marlon Wright was behind the action and didn’t see the punch thrown unfortunately.
“I am angry because I was down with my knee on the ground and he hit me. He pushed me (down) and then he hit me,” Dimitrenko said to stuff.co.uk after the fight. “I didn’t see this punch. If you don’t see the punch, it is even more dangerous. Of course I am angry and I told this to the referee. He told me ‘I didn’t see, sorry, it’s OK’. I will (protest). The supervisor is here and I will do this (protest), it is my right. I’m disappointed the way the fight ended.”
I kind of doubt the fight results will be changed to a no contest, as Dimitrenko was getting pummeled in the ring tonight by Parker. I don’t think the fight would have ended well for Dimitrenko even if the knockdown had been waived. Dimitrenko was taking a beating from Parker, and I don’t think he would have made it out of the third round. Yeah, it would have been nice if the referee had seen the punch thrown from Parker while Dimitrenko was on one knee on the canvas, but what can you do? Without instant replay to help referees inside the ring, all they can do is go by what they see or in this case what they don’t see.
Wright didn’t see Dimitrenko get hit while he was down, so he had to score it as a knockdown. What I don’t understand is why Wright was seen waving his hands after Dimitrenko took a knee. It looked like Parker forced Dimitrenko down to one knee on the canvas instead of punching him. The two fighters were in a clinch before that.
Parker landed a soft body shot that looked like a tap. He then leaned on Dimitrenko, causing him to take a knee. Referee Marlon Wright then waves his hands to show that it’s not a knockdown. Almost immediately, Parker nails Dimitrenko with a body shot while he’s still down. Wright then counts it as a knockdown despite the fact that he’d been seen waving it off moments before that. It was very weird stuff.
Parker, 24, knocked Dimitrenko down in round one with a left-right combination to the head. The shots were huge and hurtful looking from Parker. Dimitrenko got back to his feet and shook his head back and forth to tell the referee that he wasn’t really knocked down. It was pretty clear that he was considering how hard he was hit by the brutal combination from Parker. I’m not sure who the 34-year-old Dimitrenko thought he was fooling by trying to suggest that he wasn’t knocked down because he clearly was.
In round two, Parker knocked Dimitrenko down twice. The first knockdown came from a looping right hand to the head that caused Dimitrenko to stumble and fall. In the second knockdown, Parker hit Dimitrenko with a right hand to the top of the head. Parker’s right elbow also hit Dimitrenko on the top of the head from the same punches. It just followed through. It was a double whammy for Dimitrenko, and hit the canvas like a ton of bricks from that double punch. Dimitrenko got back to his feet, complaining to the referee that he’d been hit behind the head, but he was having none of it. He ignored Dimitrenko and counted it as a knockdown.
“Let’s remember that was the third time he was down,” said Parker’s trainer Kevin Barry to stuff.co.uk when told that Parker had hit Dimitrenko while he was down.
I think it was actually the 4th time that Dimitrenko was down. Dimitrenko was down once in the 1st round, twice in the 2nd round and then one more time in the 3rd round.
The final sequence of the fight in the 3rd round saw Dimitrenko land a head-snapping jab to the head of Parker. The two fighters then clinch. Parker taps Dimitrenko to the body and then leans on him to force him down on the canvas. Parker then nails Dimitrenko with a right hand to the rib-cage. Dimitrenko stares at Parker for a brief second before reacting in a delayed fashion to the shot by rolling around on the canvas with a look of pain on his face.
Some boxing fans might think the ending was suspicious, because Parker didn’t throw what appeared to be a hard body shot while Dimitrenko was down. It just looked like Parker reached over and tapped Dimitrenko to the body. The way that Dimitrenko waited a second before reacting to the body shot looked fishy. You can argue that if Dimitrenko was really hurt by the body shot, he would have reacted immediately to it rather than waiting. However, some fighters react to body shots in a delayed manner, so it’s possible Dimitrenko fell into that class. For me though, it looked suspicious with Dimitrenko’s slow reaction time to the body shot while he was down.
If you ignore the controversial ending of the fight, you must admit that Parker looked DANGEROUS and very, very impressive tonight. With the punching power he showed, Parker definitely sent a strong message to IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua that he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with when the two heavyweights meet up in November or perhaps later. Parker is Joshua’s mandatory challenger, and the fight has to take place soon. Joshua may opt to fight Wladimir Klitschko on November 26 rather than Parker. If that’s the case, it won’t matter, because Parker is still going to get his title shot against the winner of the Joshua-Klitschko fight. But with the way that Parker was punching tonight, I would be very concerned if I were Joshua. Parker has heavy hands, and he’s like a David Tua type puncher, but with hand speed and boxing ability. I was really impressed with what I saw from Parker. The way that Parker looked tonight, I think Joshua would be in serious trouble against a puncher like him.