Heavyweight Joshua Parker Gets the Job Done

South Auckland professional boxer Joshua Parker, 25, has retained the WBO world heavyweight title after a wide points victory over former sparring partner, Romanian Răzvan Cojanu at the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau.

“Parker’s team will say he was clinical; his detractors will say he was pedestrian. Either way, assessing the New Zealander’s maiden defence is a tricky business given how high the excitement bar was set the previous week by [Anthony] Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko,” Isaac Robinson writes for ESPN.

“Being clinical is certainly required at this stage of Parker’s career, of course. One false move and he’ll find himself belt-less and his aura of danger evaporated. It may not have been the spectacle his fans hoped for, but the job was done.”

Parker has an unbeaten 23-match record. As an amateur he represented New Zealand at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the super-heavyweight division.

Original article by Isaac Robinson, ESPN, May 6, 2017.


Tags: Auckland  Boxing  ESPN  Joshua Parker  Răzvan Cojanu  

Dunedin Swimmer Erika Fairweather Wins in Doha

Dunedin Swimmer Erika Fairweather Wins in Doha

Erika Fairweather has won her maiden swimming world championship title with victory in the women’s 400m freestyle final in Doha. The 20-year-old from Dunedin is the first New Zealander to win…