By Barry Holbrook: Joe Joyce (15-0, 14 KOs) wore down and stopped Joseph Parker (30-3, 21 KOs) in the 11th round on Saturday night to capture the interim WBO heavyweight title at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

Joyce was battering the former WBO champion Parker at will with heavy shots, but surprisingly, the New Zealander hung tough for as long as he could.

In the 11th, Joyce landed a big left hook to the head that flattened Parker on the canvas. There would be no getting up from that hard shot.

Undercard results:

IBO/WBC/WBO female featherweight champion Amanda Serrano (43-2-1, 30 KOs) easily beat IBF champion Sarah Mahfoud (11-1, 3 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The scores were (97-93, 97-93, and 99-92.
Super featherweight Anthony Cacace (20-1, 7 KOs) defeated Michael Magnesi (21-1, 13 KOs) by a 12 round split decision. The scores were 116-112, 117-111 Cacace and 116-112 for Magnesis.
Super middleweight Mark Heffron (29-2-1, 23 KOs) destroyed Martin Bulacio (10-7) by a 1st round knockout. The time of the stoppage was at 1:16).
Female featherweight Raven Chapman (4-0, 2 KOs) beat Jorgelina Guanini (10-5-2, 1 KOs) by an eight round unanimous decision. The scores were 77-75, 78-74, and 79-73.

Preview:

The ‘Juggernaut’ Joyce (14-0, 13 KOs) has got the size advantage and perhaps the better engine against former WBO champion Parker (30-2, 21 KOs). Parker has faster hands, and he’s a lot more mobile.

In the first half, Parker is expected to use the ring to avoid costly exchanges with Joyce. In the second half of the fight, Parker will likely slow and be forced to trade.

Female featherweight champion Amanda Serrano will have three of her titles at stake against IBF champ Sarah Mahfoud in the chief support bout.

“Any fight can be easy. The styles and tactics you use, you can make a fight easy,” said Joseph Parker’s coach Andy Lee to ID Boxing.

“If Joe does what he’s supposed to do, he can make an easy night. Saying that Joyce is big and strong and he’s unrelenting. We’re just talking about attributes and basic stuff.

“Like I said, if you measure them attribute for attribute, Parker is way ahead of him. You don’t want to have any doubt in the back of your mind. Literally, he hasn’t had a bad day of training, and he’s prepared, right?

“He’s had the best of sparring partners. Martin Bakole, Nick Campbell, and had Tyson Fury giving him tips, running with him, training him, motivating him. He’s had his brother here; he’d had Paddy Donovan here supporting him and training partners.

“He’s used Tyson’s house gym and everything else. He’s had a fantastic camp. There have not been any issues. So we’ve left no stone unturned, and all he has to do is fight now.

“Parker is a 12 round fighter. They’re banking on Joseph getting tired, so we’ve worked on that. We were doing long, long rounds in the gym. We were doing 10 rounds, 12 rounds of sparring regularly. He’s got the engine. He’s done it many times in 12 round fights,” said Lee.

Joe Joyce and Joseph Parker will be squaring off tonight for the interim WBO heavyweight title at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. The fight action kicks off at 1:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+ in the U.S, and BT Sport Boxing in the UK.