Heavyweight Dillian Whyte (24-1, 17 KOs) outlasted former WBO champion Joseph Parker (24-2, 18 KOs) at the O2 arena in London on Saturday night, coming away with a hard fought unanimous decision.

In a contest of ebb and flow, It was Parker who started the brighter of the two, outboxing Whyte in the opening stanza until finding himself on the canvas in the second following a head clash which was somehow scored a knockdown by referee Ian John Lewis.

Parker for the most part tried to box and move whilst predictably Whyte threw every shot with bad intentions. A big left hook reverberated from Whyte sending out a roar from the hometown support of the falling of Parker to the canvas in the ninth, it served only as a wake up call for Parker who upon returning to his feet sought out the recouping of some lost points.

Parker came on strong in the later rounds, nearly taking the decision out of the judges hands in the twelfth as he dropped Whyte, but the former world title challenger had enough of his facilities to tie up Parker to record a decision win by scores of 113-112, 115-110, 114-111.

Dereck “Del Boy” Chisora (29-8, 21 KOs) proved a lot of his doubters wrong in the nights chief support, scoring a spectacular eighth round KO over Carlos Takam (35-5-1, 27 KOs).

Both men kept the spectators engrossed as they met fire with fire for the duration that the fight lasted until Chisora’s power took over in the eighth, dropping Takam twice.

WBA/IBF Female Lightweight Queen Katie Taylor (10-0, 5 KOs) showed once more that she is head and shoulders above her competition, a barrage of shots stopping Kimberly Connor (13-4-2, 5 KOs) in the third.

Other Results:

Conor Benn W10 Cedrick Peynaud (welterweight)

Joshua Buatsi TKO1 Andrejs Pokumeiko (light heavyweight)

David Allen KO4 Nick Webb (heavyweight)

Anthony Fowler KO6 Craig O’Brien (super welterweight)