In the 11th round of a thrilling fight in Manchester, Britain's Joe Joyce walked through the best New Zealander JosephParker and knocked him out.
The big man went toe-to-toe in a back and forth contest before a left hook landed on the chin of his opponent.
Joyce wants to challenge Oleksandr Usyk for the title of world champ in 2023.
The Briton's step up in class had been debated all week after 14 pro fights against lower-level opponents, but he showed a granite chin to become the first man to stopParker.
Joyce said that JosephParker was a fighter.
It was a hard fought battle. It was a hard fight. I had to work hard to get through the rounds. I liked it very much.
Joyce was undeterred, pouring forward and bloodying the nose ofParker in the second round after he opened the fight brilliantly.
Joyce was the one who responded with his own hand. Both men shot big in the third round.
Joyce tagged Joyce with a right hand seconds after he had hit him.
The ferocious head-to-head continued to the bell as the New Zealander remained on his feet.
Joyce stood firm as he was hit by another big left, but he didn't feel the force of his opponent's shots.
Joyce responded with counter punches every time he landed a punch.
Hard left hooks in the fourth and a massive swinging right in the fifth were the best punches that the Englishman could muster.
Joyce picked up the pace in the sixth round, trappingParker in the corner.
He tried to slow Joyce with body shots. It didn't stop the attacks.
The Olympian cut his opponent's eye after bloodied his nose in the seventh.
Joyce poured forward again but the bell came too soon for the Brit.
In the eighth round, his eye was bothering him as he touched it. A hard left by the visiting fighter caused a response from Joyce.
Joyce came forward again after the first time she staggered under the weight of the shot, but it was short lived.
The big man stood still for a second as he waited to see if the object in front of him had been injured. The man was not.
Joyce was hit in the face with four left hooks. There was no chance of success.
In the 11th, Joyce put his opponent down. The battle came to a close whenParker missed the count.
Serrano beat Sarah Mahfoud on points to win the title.
In the second round, the Puerto Rican drew blood from her opponent as she took control of the fight.
Serrano was unable to stop her opponent despite her dominance.
Serrano landed a lot of heavy shots, including some eye-catching left hooks and body shots.
As Serrano fired off at will at times, while she was jittery on her feet, she grew into the fight.
Her corner tried to patch her up between rounds, with blood streaming from her head.
Serrano kept pushing forward, just as she did six months ago against Taylor.
In the later rounds, Serrano's pace dropped a bit.
Serrano was a clear winner in the 43rd win of her career and is one step closer to becoming the undisputed champion at the weight class.
After her win, the seven-weight world champion said that fans might have to wait for the second Taylor match.
I got a fight from her. She said that she wanted the last piece of the puzzle to be undisputed and that she wanted the second part of the puzzle to be a repeat of the first one.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
