Joseph Parker (30-3, 21 KOs) was upbeat at the post-fight press conference after losing to Joe Joyce (15-0, 14 KOs) by an 11th round knockout loss on Saturday night at the AO Arena in Manchester, England.
Parker says the pressure from Joyce proved to be too much. Each time he would land something, Joyce would return fire with heavy shots to the head and body.
Parker landed a lot of multiple left hooks in the fight that connected cleanly to the head of Joyce, but they had no effect. Joyce took them well.
The beginning of the end for Joyce came in the seventh round. Joyce beat him up in that round, and had him stunned at one point. From that point on, it was all Joyce until he stopped him in the 11th round from a left hook to the head.
“We knew what we were dealing with, but he just kept on coming,” said Joseph Parker at the post-fight press conference, discussing his fight with Joe Joyce.
The huge shots that Parker landed on Joyce would have knocked out most heavyweights, as he was connecting with some monstrous punches. Joyce’s ability to take the shots was unreal. If not for that, Parker would have had an excellent chance of winning tonight.
After the fight, Joyce’s face looked badly swollen, showing the kind of punishment that Parker had dished out in the fight. This was by no means an easy fight for Joyce.
“The better man won today. It just shows that it’s all learning. I’ll come back stronger. Not really. I had to keep chipping away,” said Parker when asked if it broke his heart that he kept landing shots on Joyce, and it didn’t bother him.
“It was a tough challenge. Someone putting pressure on you, trying to chase you down. I did my best. I got to keep training hard. It wasn’t my night tonight.
“I want to be straight back in there again before the end of the year. He’s a tough man. I said, ‘congratulations on your win. Well deserved.’
“You saw tonight; every time I hit him, he kept coming back. We knew exactly what he was going to do. It didn’t click like I thought it would, but it’s boxing.
“He’s very tough. You saw it tonight. He put on a lot of pressure. Congratulations to him. He’s a hell of a fighter. I still feel I’ve got a lot to give to boxing. I just got to keep working.
“There’s no point dwelling on it. A loss is a loss. Just get back to training and keep putting in the work. If you dwell on it, it’s going to hold you back.
“I just want to relax a little bit, and when the time is right, Andy and I will watch the fight over and look at what we did, positive and negative.
“Even though I’ve been a champion, I’m still learning as a fighter. There are no excuses. I did everything right in camp, and I was in good shape. I’ll fight anyone out there. I’ll fight anyone. I don’t care who it is.
“Dig deep, and thanks to my corner for doing a good job of stopping the bleeding. When you’re in there, and the blood keeps coming down, you’ve got to keep pushing through,” said Parker about his thoughts on being cut. “It’s not an excuse. It’s just part of the game.
“I feel good. I’m ready to go again. You win some, and you lose some. Good fight. What more can he say,” said Parker when asked what Joyce said to him after the fight.
