The date was March 31st, 2018, and it was a unification bout between undefeated heavyweight champions. Joseph Parker was the WBO heavyweight champion, and Anthony Joshua was the unified IBF/WBA heavyweight champion. There were high expectations going in, but the fight was not especially memorable.
The bout had a bit of an awkward rhythm, and aside from not having a lot of fireworks, it wasn’t exactly a textbook display of technical prowess, either. A lot of people were extremely critical of referee Giuseppe Quarterone, where his perceived hands-on overinvolvement disrupted the natural flow of the action. At the end of 12 rounds, Anthony Joshua was awarded a lopsided unanimous decision.
For Joseph Parker, the loss was undoubtedly a setback, but Parker had only recently turned 26, and he was a skilled boxer with good ring smarts and athleticism, so there was plenty of time to rebuild. But as it turned out, Parker had mixed success after losing his championship. He lost his very next fight against Dillian Whyte, and then he went on a nice winning streak that included a victory against Junior Fa and a pair of victories against Derek Chisora. After losing his third professional fight against Joe Joyce in September 2022, it looked as if it might be the end of the road for Parker as a legitimate Top 10 contender.
Parker has resurrected his boxing career, winning 5 fights in a row in the span of 14 months – an incredible activity rate in a day and age where top heavyweights typically only fight once or twice a year. But most impressive about his 5 fight winning streak is the fact that his last two wins came against guys who were each more or less universally ranked in the Top 5 when Parker beat them – Deontay Wilder and Big Bang Zhang, arguably the two hardest hitting heavyweights competing today.
This edition of Rummy’s Corner will provide a quick review of how Joseph Parker resurrected his boxing career, with a strong emphasis on his most recent back-to-back victories against top contenders Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang. Please watch and enjoy the video for one man’s opinion. This is Rummy’s Corner (produced and narrated by Geoffrey Ciani).