Joseph Parker is now considered one of the best heavyweights in the division years after he won his first world title.
Joseph Parker has accumulated an impressive list of names on his record, with wins over Martin Bakole, Zhilei Zhang, and Deontay Wilder, and seems destined to remain at the top of the division alongside his trainer Andy Lee.
Parker is just 33, which makes it even harder to believe that he won his first world title almost nine years ago.
His first loss came to Anthony Joshua, who snatched his world title from him in 2018, but he was very close to not winning the title at all.
Joseph Parker was one round away from missing out on a world title against Andy Ruiz
In 2016, at the age of 24, 21-0 Parker, who KO’d Bakole recently, faced 29-0 Andy Ruiz Jr. in New Zealand for the vacant WBO heavyweight title.
The bout was extremely close, with both men showing how badly they wanted to take home the coveted belt.
After 12 hard-fought rounds, it was Parker who got the nod, though Ruiz’s trainer, Abel Sanchez, did not agree.
According to BoxRec, Sanchez believed Parker’s win was a case of hometown bias, with the judges consciously or unconsciously scoring in favor of the Kiwi fighter.
All three judges were neutral, though, and Parker, who later lost to Dillian Whyte, was now a champion.
Ruiz, who punched his trainer in the face once, went on to cause the biggest upset in boxing as he stopped Anthony Joshua for the first time in his career in his US debut.
Andy Ruiz fought to a draw against a formidable opponent after breaking his hand at the start of the fight
In his last outing after being plagued by inactivity, Ruiz faced Jarrell Miller, who ironically was Joshua’s original opponent before Ruiz caused the upset, on the undercard of Terence Crawford vs Israil Madrimov.
Ruiz and Miller fought to a draw, though Ruiz soon revealed why he was not himself in the fight, as he showed off a gnarly swollen hand.
He claims his hand broke in one of the early rounds, and that he was forced to fight despite the pain for the remainder of the fight.