To close out a fantastic night’s boxing, here’s Kevin Mitchell’s report.
The man whose name was on all four of tonight’s heavyweight contenders’ lips enjoyed the first fight.
African Warrior... Clinical Finish! Well done Chisora 🥊
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyfjoshua) July 28, 2018
Parker speaks, and is very diplomatic. He is surely too nice to be a fighter.
Thank you for being here tonight. It was a great opportunity. We all knew it was going to be tough. He put up a great fight.
Whyte speaks. The respect between him and Parker is clear.
It was a great fight. I love this man. This man has a massive future and a massive career ahead of him. Like me, he took the fight with seven weeks notice and we had a 12-round slugfest. [On fighting Joshua]Of course, we will be ready, I don’t want to wait so long, though. One more fight between then and now would be great. Let’s see what Eddie can bring.
Message from Fiona Ey. “It’s a quiet Sunday morning in Samoa, Joseph’s homeland. In this highly religious island, families have foregone their usual Sunday morning services, or pastors have finished them early, so that people can watch their hero slog it out and get back in contention. We are all behind you Joseph! Go get ‘em!”
Sorry it didn’t work out for you, Fiona. A minute more and Joseph might have got the job done.
Whyte wins on a unanimous decision
The three judges make it 113-112, 115-110, 114-111 to Whyte, and we made it 114-111. The two fighters, somehow standing up, show great respect for each other at the end.
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Whyte knocked down, but clings on!
Round 12
Some very rude words from Parker’s bench, the gist of which is that Whyte is exhausted. And they are right. Whyte is in severe trouble as some Parker punches have his legs turning to jelly. Could this be a dramatic twist? No, Whyte digs in as Parker tries to find the winner. Whyte defends himself by launching bombs of his own and Parker himself tired. Then Parker finally lands a punch that throws Whyte to the ground.
He takes as much of the count as he can. There are 10 seconds left and Whyte clings on until the end. He would not have lasted another 15 seconds. Wow, what a finish!
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Round 11
Whyte fancies the knockdown, and Parker again seems reluctant to get involved in the swapping of punches. Whyte’s physical power is keeping his opponent at bay; he has dominated him, in fact. Parker has looked slow, and without the courage of his opponent...but what’s this, Parker at last lands one. How does Whyte respond? He throws another load of wild punches and looks tired. Parker, finally, has a foothold. Whyte was rocking but had enough to see out the round. 106-101.
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Round 10
What can Parker find? He needs a knockout, but he is still in the business of escaping those fierce shots from Whyte rather than taking it to his opponent. Having looked disinterested before, Parker is being brave but looks short of the technique to get at Whyte. On balance, Whyte has given him a far tougher fight than Joshua did. Better from Parker, perhaps he won the round but Whyte knows he has the fight in hand. 97-91, by our calculation.
Round 9
Parker’s corner told him that Whyte was beatable and did nothing in the last round. That would have been more truthful of their man, if not the greatest idea in motivatiinal terms. Parker actually landed a decent punch, but never followed it up...and then Whyte swings one that splats Parker to the floor! This time, it’s a legitimate knockdown with a swinging left counter from down low. Parker gets up, and looks like he would rather be anywhere other than having Whyte charging at him but is brave enough to carry on with 90 seconds left. His corner ask him if he knows where he is. Perhaps unfortunately for him, he still does. 88-81 to Whyte.
Round 8
Parker has been on the wrong side of some rough stuff, with this ref waving stuff through that was not allowed in the fight with Joshua, which was a desperate disappointment. This is better without being in the class of the Chisora fight. Parker is on the defensive now, with Whyte smelling blood. That ragged technique is serving him well enough; Parker has few answers to it. He needs to knock down his opponent at this point, Parker, but there is little sign of that. Whyte is being allowed to pick his punches. This is his to lose. He could hang on for a Frank Bruno v Oliver McCall clinch and see this out. 78-63, we reckon, an easy win.
Round 7
Now, does Parker have the energy to last this out, and has Whyte punched himself out? The New Zealander is throwing plenty of jabs but Whyte is holding them off, and still coming forward. They go into a headlock that the Kiwi contingent do not like. Whyte lands a left hook from close in, but most of his timing is off. Whyte is prepared to miss, unlike Parker, who at times tries to be a little too precise. 68-64? That round was a little closer.
Round 6
Whyte is going for it, but he is ragged when launching his bombs. Parker’s corner not happy with the rough stuff and their man looks enraged as he throws a few. He’s using up precious energy, as he is heavier than he was when fighting Joshua. Whyte, in the final minute, launches an onslaught, and also does some decent defensive work in making Parker miss. In the clinch, a couple of furious uppercuts are launched. Whyte took that round, making it by our unofficial scorecard, 58-55 to him.
Round 5
Nice punch from Parker as Whyte’s footwork fails him. That’s the Kiwi’s game. He doesn’t fancy it up close, where Whyte is fearless and wants to be. Parker breathing a little heavier than Whyte which is not a good sign though he is the lighter man. Whyte, though, never managed to get quite as close as he would like in that round. Parker looked more comfortable without being able to land a blow. 48-46 to Whyte.
Round 4
Whyte charges in rugby-style. He wants a war. He needs to negate Parker’s technique, and get his opponent to lose his cool. A bomb launched by Whyte ends up with the two of them in a clinch. Up against the ropes, they get into a slugfest, and Whyte is trying to pin Parker back and force him into a close-range war. Another round to Whyte? 39-36 to him that makes it. Parker asks to touch gloves after the bell but not much doing from Whyte.
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Round 3
Parker gets back into it admirably. He regroups but Whyte, despite not actually knocking down his opponent in the last round, has his confidence up and fancies taking out Parker with his defensive shots and is moving into the centre of the ring. Parker is landing jabs but little in the way of combinations, though much the same from Whyte. It’s a battle of speed versus latent power. That keeps it as 29-27 to Whyte, from our reckoning.
Round 2
Whyte tries to take the initiative, but Parker is picking him off with some decent jabs and far more fluid movement. This is a fight of technique against power, though Parker undoubtedly has that. Whyte is struggling to get close in...but but but...a left-hook counter shot takes Parker to the ground. That’s the first time has been down in his career...replays actually suggest that is a clash of heads. No wonder both look stunned by that. A case for VAR perhaps? That makes it 19-18 to Whyte.
Round 1
Parker starts quick, and looks much sharper. Whyte is sluggish, it has to be said. His shots miss their target. Ponderous, even. Parker is keeping his cool, Whyte is looking for the big one, though does land a decent body punch. Parker is, though, a little loose when he goes for a big one at the end, but he took that round. 10-9 to him, perhaps.
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Whyte is the heavier by some distance at 18 stones 6 pounds, as compared to Parker’s 17 stone 4. Whyte is four pound heavier than when he beat Lucas Browne. Michael Buffer has just managed to pronounce “main event” as ‘mine ay-vent’. That’s why he’s the best in the business...ah, here it is. “Let’s get ready to ruuummble.” It’s lost its punch, that catchphrase. Michael’s tones not what they were, but the word is he is worth many millions so who’s laughing now?
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Buffer’s off again. He mangles Dillian Whyte’s name in directions you never thought possible. Dillian takes to the stage, firstly to a soft-rock tune that proclaims that “I am a bad man” before John Williams’ “Theme from Jaws” breaks into AC/DC’s “Back In Black”. Three tunes for the price of one. Not bad, actually.
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Any thoughts tonight? Do email me at john.brewin.casual@theguardian.com. We might be here for a while.
Joseph Parker takes to the ring first, with some Kiwi hip hop for his accompaniment. Like him as a fighter, it’s understated stuff, and very professional.
Michael Buffer is in the ring, giving those famous vocal chords their habitual wimoweh wimoweh workout. Remember when Mayweather and Pacquiao had both him and Jimmy Lennon Jr? Overkill much?
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You can tell the big fight is near as the sound of Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” set the fans into raptures. It’s the song that must be played at all spectator sports where laddy bantz is the order of the day in the stands, and nobody is quite sure why. It’s stepped well ahead of “Ring Of Fire” and “Tarzan Boy” by Baltimora.
Anthony Joshua has tipped Dillian Whyte to win the big one, though pronounces his name as “Dylan” throughout the set-piece TV interview.
Dereck Chisora speaks.
This was very tough. The guy was tough. I knew I couldn’t trade with him. I said to myself, “it’s time to send it home”. He didn’t hurt me, I am English, nobody can hurt us. I am bad, no two ways about it. I wanna fight, I bet I win fight of the year for this one. I am 34 but I feel 21 right now. Ibiza, here I come.
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Chisora, with Union Jack handkerchief over his mouth and a cap bearing the legend “War”, takes the plaudits. It’s an odd way to celebrate the best fight of his career.
The felling blow from Chisora was an overhead right to the side of the head, and Takam was done at that point. And the follow-up was just as fierce. The crowd loved it.
Chisora wins in the eighth by knockout!
And suddenly, Chisora finds a knockout punch. He first knocked Takam to the floor. Takam got back up, but he was bludgeoned straight back over. This fight is over. And what a fight it was. Dogged from Del Boy. The best of his career.
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The seventh is even more ridiculous. Heavy artillery being launched by both, and both taking the punches. Chisora gritting his way through this, while Takam is the more attacking fighter. Both boxers are making noises as slug at their opponent.
Into the sixth. Takam caught Chisora, but the chin was strong. The pair of them raining bombs at each other. Chisora played the fool in the corner and seemed to invite the punches on before coming out swinging. What a round, and what a noise from the crowd.
More of the same in the fifth, as Chisora took a back seat, and Takam slugged away while getting caught. This is a real test, but there must only be a point in it.
Chisora is sitting back a bit, and in that fourth round, he seemed content to take a few punches, confident in his chin. He’s clearly hoping Takam will punch himself out, and that looks a big possibility, as his body shots are landing.
They’ve already slowed up a bit by the third round. Takam has slowed up, Chisora has kept up his pace but both seem to be landing punches but finding themselves unable to get the combinations going. A level contest, with Takam just about shading it.
This is a real slugfest. Toe to toe continues, and Chisora shaded that round. It surely cannot last 12 rounds.
And that was a hell of a first round. They went toe to toe, with Takam landing several bombs before Chisora came back into it at the end.
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And here’s the main undercard fight coming up. Derek Chisora, who loves his miniature dogs and drives a three-wheeler like namesake Derek Trotter, takes to the stage to some jazzy-gospel tones to take on Carlos Takam. Neither of these lads hang around so this could be brutal.
During that fight, Dillian Whyte, “the Bodysnatcher”, no less, entered the 02 with a knowing strut.
And Katie Taylor has retained her belts in style by beating Kimberley Connor with a third-round stoppage. Ireland’s favourite fighter took a nasty cut to the right eye and that hurried her on towards getting the job done. The stoppage came when her opponent was reeling on her heels. Taylor goes to a record of 10-0.
News from tonight’s undercard at the 02, Conor Benn beat Cedrick Peynaud for the 13th win of his career, and he stays unbeaten after his first ten-round fight of his career. He admitted afterwards that he had hurt his hand in the process. Perhaps what hurt most would be a failed Ali shuffle, which ended with sat on his backside. And so far, he is not much of a decent imitation of Nigel, his father, either, who was at ringside.
Preamble
The Hearn hype machine’s latest offering brings together two fighters attempting not to be defined by Anthony Joshua while fighting each other to have a rematch with Britain’s triple world heavyweight champion. And both have given AJ a scare in their respective fights, though ended up well-beaten.
Whyte is the tough-talking bruiser with the former gangsta lifestyle who couldn’t stop himself calling Joshua a “punk” in the build-up, while Parker is almost too polite for his own good. Against Joshua was a little too circumspect.
There does seem some genuine respect between these two, even if each holds the other’s future in their fist; very few braggadocio antics in the build-up when it came to each other, which is nice. Whyte can be good company, your correspondent here can happily report, but he is ambitious, too. On our meeting, he was convinced he would have beaten Joshua in December 2015 if he hadn’t sustained an injury and he has won all of his seven fights since. His pummelling of Lucas Browne had people taking him seriously and getting past the awkward hurdle of Parker would catapult him into the reckoning.
Parker, a little more classy around the ring, is favourite for this one, and packs a punch, having delivered 18 knockouts. But so does Whyte. That hopefully makes for a decent Saturday night’s fighting.
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