After Anthony Joshua went the distance against Joseph Parker back in March, it was Dillian Whyte's turn to get a shot at fighting Parker.
Just like Joshua, Whyte went 12 rounds against Parker, scoring a decision win over the former WBO champion in the main event of a British pay-per-view in London's O2 Arena. Whyte won the fight by unanimous decision (113-112, 115-110, 114-111) although the fight did not come easy for him.
Both heavyweights traded shots with each other throughout the entire fight, with Parker landing better body shots in the first couple of rounds. Whyte eventually got into a rhythm and pressed forward, landing his own power shots and getting the momentum about halfway through the fight.
Whyte's power was in display in the ninth round when he knocked down Parker with a vicious left hook that connected square on Parker's jaw. By that point, Whyte was starting to run away with the victory on the scorecards.
Parker did eventually recover and even mounted a big comeback in the 12th round. Parker managed to knock down Whyte and hurt the British fighter as Parker was trying to look for any kind of stoppage at the end of the fight. Parker did not get the stoppage, but the knockdown made the scores very close.
With the win, Whyte not only retained his WBC Silver title but also won the WBO International title. Whyte was previously ordered to fight former title challenger Luis Ortiz in a WBC heavyweight title eliminator, but Whyte chose to fight Parker instead, ignoring an IBF heavyweight title eliminator against Kubrat Pulev as well.
Parker's career is at a crossroads after suffering his first two losses. After winning the WBO title in 2016 against Andy Ruiz, Parker defended the title twice in 2017, but failed to knock any of his opponents out after knocking out 18 of his first 21 opponents. Parker lost the WBO title in March against Joshua in a three-belt unification bout.
