Invercargill New Zealand, 7th ranked WBO heavyweight Joseph Parker (15-0-0) absolutely annihilated 13th ranked WBO heavyweight Bowie Tupou (25-4-0). Tupou came out of his corner looking to bull-rush Parker, swinging looping overhand punches from the cheap seats in trying to land a big shot early. Parker stayed calm, worked at establishing his jab and as Tupou come boring in again he timed a perfectly leveraged short right hand that landed on the crown of Tupou’s head, sending Tupou crashing face first to the canvass in about as devastating a knockout as you will see. Over at 1:06 of the first round.
In his post-fight interview Parker ever the gentlemen thanks god and the city of Invercargill Also stating (paraphrased) “all he’s (Tupou) worried about is throwing his punches and not worried about what’s coming back…it went one round, we were prepared to go twelve, we’re happy with the victory’.
In his post-fight interview Parker’s coach Kevin Barry stated (paraphrased) “Joseph Parker is a very heavy handed fighter, this was his biggest test, we thought we were bringing you a fight I expected to go 6 or 7 rounds… this young man is for real…we found out last year when Joe fought five times in a year that really worked for him, so we have the same schedule for him this year…hopefully we get a world title shot in the next 18 months to two years’.
Parker moving on to bigger and better things and Kevin Barry has outlined a time frame in which they hope to get a title shot, and should Team Parker continue along at the clip they are that could well come to fruition.