Kiwi-Samoan heavyweight Joseph Parker has pulled his boxing career back from the brink of extinction, with a dominant display against former world champion Deontay Wilder in the 'Day of Reckoning' event at Riyadh.
Fifteen months ago, the former WBO world champion seemed to have fallen far from title contention, with a devastating knockout defeat - his first ever - against Brit Joe Joyce at Manchester.
By surviving 12 rounds against Wilder - a renowned puncher and former WBC champion - Parker is back on the radar for big future fights.
"I'm back!" he declared, after his unanimous decision victory was confirmed.
"We were focused and had momentum. Everyone had plans, other plans, but this was God's plan.
"This is massive, this is the toughest opponent I've faced."
Even before the bout, matchmakers were promoting a likely Wilder v Anthony Joshua fight in March, a long-awaited meeting of two former champions who studiously avoided each other when they were in their prime.
Parker lost his world crown to Joshua in 2018, but may now step into a rematch with his old adversary.
Entering the ring against overwhelming favourite Wilder, he knew he could swing an upset, if he avoided the big right hand of the 'Bronze Bomber', who threatened to put his opponent to sleep during pre-fight build-up.
In that regard, Parker fought an intelligent gameplan, taking the battle to Wilder, without taking outlandish risks. He won every round and, on a couple of occasions, seemed on the verge of an unexpected - by everyone except Parker's camp - knockout.
Afterwards, Wilder went through the motions of claiming victory, but all three judges scored heavily in favour of Parker - 118-111, 118-110, 120-108.
"Dangerous fight, tough fight, but we trained very hard for this," he said. "I was really fit and the strategy was to stay calm, stay relaxed, stay focused and switched on for every second, every minute of every round.
"There are always things to work on, but today we got the win. Merry Christmas to us."
Wilder had only previously lost - twice - to current world champion Tyson Fury, whose trainer Andy Lee now oversees Parker's preparation. That inside knowledge held the Kiwi in good stead.
Since his October 2021 defeat to Fury, Wilder has fought just once for a first-round knockout 14 months ago that could not prepare him for tougher challenges.
By contrast, Parker returned to the ring just four months after losing to Joyce, rebuilding confidence with two additional stoppages, before agreeing to face Wilder.
"Deontay's got a new coach and maybe they're applying the new things they're working on," explained Parker. "Maybe inactivity played a big part.
"Momentum, working with Andy in camp and not getting out of shape... I'm very, very happy."
Avoiding the killer punch was key to Parker's success.
"Practice, practice, practice," he insisted. "Work, work, work.
"I had to be aware all the time. He did catch me a few times off guard and I can say it's a very hard right hand.
"If he had landed clean, it would have been different, but today's my day."
Parker will now wait to see how far his new heavyweight currency takes him.
Joshua has kept his side of the deal, with a TKO over Swede Otto Wallin after five rounds, but may now line up against Croatian Filip Hrgovic, the IBF mandatory challenger.
Meanwhile, fellow Aucklander Junior Fa has seen his prospects dashed with a technical knockout defeat to unbeaten Cuban Frank Sanchez.
In the first fight of a stacked card, Fa hung tough for most of six rounds, but was lucky to survive a late flurry in that sixth stanza. Sanchez wasted no time closing in for the kill in the seventh.
After three defeats, Fa will now likely drop out of world rankings.
