Sunday 30 June 2019 15:47, UK
Joseph Parker continued his heavyweight resurgence with a tenth-round stoppage of Alex Leapai in Rhode Island.
The New Zealander dominated throughout but failed to find a highlight-reel finish, the 39-year-old Leapai gamely showing his experience and toughness before the referee decided to pull him out.
Parker, who is now signed to Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing USA, revealed afterwards his future fight plans.
"When I started landing punches and he didn't go down, I knew he was tough," the victor said.
"I had to be patient. I want to take any fight that comes my way now, I want to keep busy and I want to avenge the losses on my record. Then I want to fight Andy Ruiz Jr again."
The one-way traffic began from the first bell, Parker displaying his youth and exuberance to dash across the ring to quickly corner his counterpart, raining in thudding hooks as an overwhelmed Leapai sagged in the corner, the occasional wild reply the only thing keeping the referee from intervening.
A minute's rest did little to alter proceedings, the 27-year-old again unleashing big uppercuts and slick one-two combinations, the heavy artillery increasingly suggesting an early finish was well on the cards.
Leapai hung in there though and with that, as the heavyweight scrap went beyond the third, any competitive edge diminished from the all-Samoan showdown, Parker happy to fight at a conservative pace, able to enjoy his night's work and fire home shots from all angles to both the head and body.
The rounds stockpiled in the bank for the popular Kiwi as he never decisively looked to end proceedings in destructive fashion before, with things edging towards the scorecards, the referee jumped in to wave off the contest in the tenth.
