Joe Joyce, the WBO’s number one contender, won the vacant WBO “interim” heavyweight title by stopping the organization’s number two man, former WBO champion Joseph Parker, with a counter to the jaw to early round 11.
“The Juggernaut” lived up to his nickname in rounds 6-11 when he turned a relatively even fight (Joyce led 91-82 overall and 44-16 jabs, but was trailing 66-49 in power after five rounds) into a loss when he raised his work rate from 67.2 in the first five to 95 in rounds 6-11 while Parker dropped from 56 to 53.5 in the same span.
As a result, Joyce led 217-79 overall, 64-8 in jabs and 153-71 in power during that stretch to extend her eventual lead to 308-147 overall, 106-23 in jabs, 96-61 in body and 202 -124 power despite taking 48% of Parker’s power punches (he landed 42% of his own bombs).
Joyce’s relentless pressure and work rate (81.6 punches per round for the fight to Parker’s 54.7) helped him overcome his defensive woes and open up a cut over Parker’s right eye in the seventh round. Additionally, Joyce’s excellent jab (35.2 attempts/10.2 connections per round vs. Parker’s 29.5/2.2) helped him create a 36% to 26% gap in total accuracy, a 29% to 8% advantage in jab accuracy and a 9-2 margin. in CompuBox’s round-by-round breakdown of total connections.
Joyce’s 308 total punches and 202 power punches were the most by a Parker opponent. Joyce turned up the heat in rounds 6 through 10, landing 40 of 94 punches per round. Heavyweight average: 14.5 of 44.3.
