A Big Night at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff

by Ralph Oates

The heavyweight division over the years has produced a number of fantastic boxers, world champions like Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfeld, Lennox Lewis and many more. Fighters who thrilled the fans and in turn often flled the sporting pages of the various newspapers who covered their bouts. At this present time, the heavyweight division continues to turn out heavyweights that capture the imagination of the public. So it was a big night for boxing on the 31 March 2018 and a big night for Cardiff, since Anthony Joshua the reigning Super WBA, IBF and IBO world heavyweight champion was meeting the WBO heavyweight king Joseph Parker from New Zealand, in a unifcation contest fght which was staged at the Principality Stadium. It is always a massive event to stage a world title bout at heavyweight and this fght was no exception. Both men were undefeated, Joshua having a resume of 20 bouts and Parker a slate of 24. This looked like being a compelling encounter between two skilful ring operators. At that moment in time, the WBC world titleholder in the division was American Deontay Wilder who was nicknamed The Bronze Bomber and also undefeated in 40 bouts. The weight division was seeing exciting times with a number of interesting characters coming through the ranks to ply their trade.

Joshua was no stranger to Wales, in his fourth professional bout on 1 February 2014 he met Dorian Darch at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff and won when stopping his opponent in round 2 of 6. His second Welsh appearance had taken place on 28 October 2017 at the Principality Stadium whereupon he defeated challenger Carlos Takam in defence of his Super WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles stopping him in the 10th Stanza of a bout set for the duration of 12 rounds. Takam had put in a brave and stubborn performance before being halted by the Briton. While Takam was no pushover Parker looked to be a much tougher task for Joshua. The WBO champion was keen to add Joshua’s titles to his own to become a unifed world titleholder. Parker was the frst boxer from his country to win a version of the world heavyweight championship, so he is assured of a place Anthony Joshua. Image courtesy of Philip Sharkey in the history books of his nation. The title had come into his grasp on 10 December 2016 when he met Andy Ruiz for the vacant belt at the Spark Arena in Auckland and won a 12 round point’s decision. Ruiz, a very underrated boxer, made Parker dig down and fght every inch of the way in this contest. The home fghter was aware that he had been in a tough battle with his opponent at the completion of the bout. Parker then made a successful frst defence of the crown on 6 May 2017 against Razvan Cojanu, the venue being the Vodaphone Events Centre in Manukau City, once again securing a 12 round

point’s decision. Parker then came to the UK on 23 September 2017 to make the second defence of the crown and outscored challenger Hughie Fury (cousin of Tyson Fury) over the duration of 12 rounds at the Manchester Arena to keep the championship and prove that he was a worthy titleholder. On that occasion, Fury lost his undefeated record which then stood at 20 bouts. This had been Parker’s frst fght on British shores, but he was used to boxing overseas since he had previously fought in Germany and America. Joshua, a former Olympic gold medallist at Super-heavyweight at the 2012 games, had stormed to the top becoming the British & Commonwealth king and WBC International champion before capturing the IBF world heavyweight title in just his sixteenth fght at the O2 Arena in Greenwich London, easily knocking out holder Charles Martin of the USA in the second stanza of 12 on the 9 April 2016, and then in his frst defence against Dominic Breazeale he retained his crown in round 7 of a contest scheduled for 12, once again at the O2 Arena. Eric Molina was the next to step inside the ring with the British fghter in an attempt to win the title and failed when stopped in the third stanza in a contest set for the duration of 12. Joshua then added the vacant WBA Superheavyweight belt to his collection and also the vacant IBO crown when defeating former world titleholder Wladimir Klitschko in round 11 on 29 April 2017, the venue being Wembley Stadium. So on the night, when considering the credentials of Joshua and Parker, the fght fans looked to be in for a fstic treat between the two highly skilled boxers. Make no mistake, Joshua had to be favoured to take the win when the dust had settled, be it by points or an inside the distance victory. However, there was always the chance that an upset could happen and Parker could spring a surprise and in heavyweight boxing, anything can happen. Boxing history confrms that very fact.

That night in Cardiff the two men squared off with the many spectators in attendance cheering them on. Joshua had in his previous bouts proven to be an exciting fghter, often ended his bouts with his explosive punching. The tension could be felt in the air prior to the start of the contest, the two big men looked set for an epic battle. So to some degree, many were disappointed in what they witnessed on the night. There were very few freworks during the course of the encounter, both men were cautious of each other, eager not to lose their concentration and fall foul of a blow which could end matters and bring their respective title reign to an end in an instant. There was a great deal riding on the contest and in turn a great deal of pressure for the two fghters. At the end of the 12 round bout Joshua was given the decision on points. It was the frst time that Joshua had travelled the full distance in a world championship contest. Joshua could now look forward to even bigger fghts looking at that moment to a possible meeting with Deontay Wilder in a bout for the undisputed title. For Parker, he had to rebuild his career and hopefully come again and hence become a big player in the division. However, since the Joshua- Parker bout the heavyweight landscape has changed dramatically. Joshua has been on a rollercoaster career-wise, losing and then regaining the titles only to lose them once more. At this present time, Joshua is waiting for his return with Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine, who took his world titles on the 25 September 2021 by way of a 12 round point’s decision, and Wilder lost the WBC crown to Tyson Fury on the 22 February 2020 when stopped in round 7. At the time of this article Fury is due to defend his title against Dillian Whyte, the winner hopefully will meet the victor of the Joshu-Usyk return bout. This would of course be for the undisputed world title. Early days yet but it would really be something special if the Principality Stadium was the venue for the eventual undisputed world heavyweight championship contest.