Joseph Parker has finished with a dramatic flurry, but the New Zealand boxer is likely faced with a long road back to world title contention.
Joseph Parker congratulates Dillian Whyte on winning their heavyweight bout in London. Photo: Photosport
Former WBO champion Parker has been beaten for the second straight time after losing by unanimous points decision to Englishman Dillian Whyte in London on Sunday (NZ time).
Knocked down for the first time in his career in the ninth round, Parker made a last ditch bid to snatch victory when he put Whyte to the canvas with less than a minute remaining in the bout.
But with just 15 seconds left when the fight resumed, Whyte was able to tie Parker up and hang on.
The three judges scored the bout 113-112, 115-110 and 114-111, all in favour of Whyte.
Despite the loss, an exhausted Parker remained upbeat after the fight.
"We all knew that this was going to be a tough challenge [against] Dillian Whyte and, you know what, he put up a great fight in front of his home crowd," he told Sky Sports UK.
"The uso is strong. He's still learning and progressing as a fighter, the same as me.
"We're still young, we still have a lot of time, but I'd like to say congratulations to the brother here."
The loss comes after Parker suffered his first professional defeat in April, beaten by British star Anthony Joshua and relinqueshing his WBO belt in the process.
While Whyte, who also had Joshua as the only loss on his professional record coming into the fight, moves right into contention for a rematch with Joshua, Parker is probably left with a much longer road to another title fight.
Joseph Parker presses forward against Dillian Whyte. Photo: Photosport
The 26-year-old , though, has vowed to rise again.
Although he ran out of time to finish Whyte off, Parker said he would be looking forward in positive fashion.
"I can't turn back time. I've got 12 rounds to fight, I gave it my best and the better man won.
"But I'm always going to come back stronger. There's always learning, improving and getting better.
"It's been an amazing journey so far, and it's just the beginning."
Parker started well, showcassing his superior speed by consistently beating a significantly heavier Whyte to the punch in the opening round.
That continued in the early stages of the second, before a potentially pivotal moment in the bout came when the South Aucklander went down after the two fighters clashed heads at close quarters.
From there, Whyte was able to find his rhythm and range, pressing forward and imposing his physicality on the fight through the middle rounds.
That relentless approach appeared to make Parker tire and in the ninth round the home town fighter took a vice-like grip on the contest when he floored the advancing Kiwi with a flush left hook to the jaw.
However, Parker responded well to the first punch to ever put him down, quickly returning to his feet.
Then, as the 10th round started, he appeared to find a second wind, reclaiming the centre of the ring before clearly winning the penultimate round that followed.
Almost out on their feet, both boxers threw everything they had left in the final three minutes of action, Parker eventually connecting with his best punch of the night as a stunning turn around threatened.
Dillian Whyte is given the count by the referee in the dying stages of his fight against Joseph Parker. Photo: Photosport
But time was not on his side, Whyte clinging on to Parker for dear life on the ropes as the bell rung for the last time.
Whyte was effusive in his praise of Parker after the bout and said the Kiwi was far from done at the top of the heavyweight division.
"This man's got a massive future and a massive career [ahead]," the Jamaican-born Brit told Sky Sports UK.
"This man is 26, he's skilful and he's tough because I hit him with some punches and he got dropped and got up and he dropped me.
"He took the fight, as same as me, on seven weeks notice ..... we train hard, we did the best we could do and we came to fight, it was a 12 round slugfest."
- RNZ