On Saturday, December 10, 2016, Joseph Parker (22-0, 18 KOs) scored a majority decision victory against Andy Ruiz Jr. (29-1, 19 KOs) to win the previously vacant WBO Heavyweight title at the Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand.
The 12-round fight was televised on BoxNation in the U.K.
After Tyson Fury relinquished his WBA and WBO Heavyweight titles earlier in October, the WBO put its newly vacant title on the line between two undefeated, top-ten Heavyweights.
Though in other divisions a need for a unified champion is dire, the end of the Klitschko reign and the inability of Fury to keep his titles means that a race for Heavyweight supremacy has been going on between the likes of Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua and, with his new WBO title, Joseph Parker.
Parker, 24, is a native of New Zealand who enjoyed a hometown advantage as he stepped into the ring today. Parker had previously knocked out 86% of his opponents, though they had mostly been in his hometown, with Alexander Dimitrenko being one of the most notable names of his list of victims.
Parker can now add Ruiz to his list of notable names, though he was not able to stop him.
Ruiz is a 27-year-old native of Imperial, California who is known for his fast hands, which posed problems for Parker in the first three rounds.
Though Ruiz’s quicker hand speed posed problems for Parker, he managed to land hard body shots in Round 3 on Ruiz before eating a left hook that sent him reeling towards the corner.
By Rounds 4 and 5, Parker began finding his rhythm and started tagging Ruiz more often, mostly from the outside with long shots that prevented Ruiz from closing the distance, where Ruiz’s quicker and shorter hands would give him an advantage.
The fight was very competitive, but by Rounds 8 and 9, Ruiz could not keep up with Parker’s activity. Ruiz took several unanswered shots, and though there were several good exchanges, Parker seemed to get the better of them more and more down the stretch.
Indeed, the scorecards reflect the closeness of the fight, but also demonstrate Parker’s earned win. Parker won with two scores of 115-113, while one judge scored it a draw.
Although Parker won, he did not look as dominant as he did in previous fights. Furthermore, the hometown advantage plays an important factor, so we will see how Parker fares if he has to defend his title in a foreign land.
How did you score the fight? Judging by today’s performance, how does Parker do against the likes of Deontay Wilder or Anthony Joshua?
Let us know in the comments section below. For more results from the Parker-Ruiz card, click here.
All photos by Photosport
