Photo / File
Joseph Parker took out the headline fight against Junior Fa in a unanimous decision. The judges scored Saturday night's fight at Auckland's Spark Arena, 109-119, 113-115, 111-117 in favour of Parker.
Fa was up for the challenge, however, doing plenty to take the fight to Parker as he went the distance over 12 rounds.
"It was a tough fight, he came in with a lot of purpose," Parker said in the post-fight press conference.
Before the fight, British boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said Parker needed to put on a devastating performance to give himself a shot at bigger fights in the future.
Parker felt he could have done better, "Everything was clicking in training but it just wasn't the performance we wanted tonight. But a win's a win," he said.
Fa was humble in defeat, "You win some, you lose some. It is what it is," he said on Instagram.
"Had a lot of fun being in there and thank you all for your loving support. Time to rest. Until next time."
With this win under his belt, Parker is ready to move on to his next opponent, hoping to take on British boxer Dereck Chisora.
He was originally set down to fight Chisora in 2019 but withdrew after suffering a spider bite.