• Joe Joyce won the WBO interim heavyweight title with the best performance.
• He will now take face Oleksandr Usyk, the heavyweight champion, in 2023.
• New Zealander Joseph Parker, former world champion but failed to knock him out.

Joe Joyce, British boxer outlasted New Zealander Joseph Parker’s valiant attempt to knock him out in the eleventh round of the match.

The heavyweights fought back and forth before Parker took a hard left hook flush to the chin.

Joyce won the WBO interim heavyweight title with the best performance of his professional career. He will now take face Oleksandr Usyk, the heavyweight champion, in 2023.

The British fighter’s progression to a higher level had been called into question after 14 professional fights against weaker opponents. He only recently transitioned from amateur to professional status at the age of 31. This week, he turned 37.

Parker was a former world champion, but Joyce showed a steely resolve to win the match for the first time.

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“Joseph Parker… what a fighter and what a fight,” he said.

“It was a tough fight and praise to Parker. I really enjoyed it and I had to dig deep to get through the rounds. I hit him with everything I’ve got, I tried it all and he was still coming forward.

“I managed to drop him at the end but it was hard work. Usyk let’s get it on.”

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