Dillian Whyte plays to the crowd after scoring a ninth round knock down over Joseph Parker in their fight at the O2 Arena in London.

Joseph Parker's boxing career has been sent spiralling by a one-two British combination that has New Zealand's favourite heavyweight son at his knees.

The defeat to Anthony Joshua on March 31 in Cardiff was the first blow, the Kiwi losing his WBO title, not to mention his undefeated record when he was well outpointed by the British champ; now a unanimous points defeat to 'Brixton Bomber' Dillian Whyte on Sunday (NZT) at a rocking and jam-packed O2 Arena in London is the follow-up punch that has him heading towards a dark place.

Maybe he can come back from this. He is certainly vowing to.

But it's a precipitous path now. He must rebuild his reputation and his standing in a crowded heavyweight top tier from a lower place than he has occupied in recent times. A shot at Joshua, or American WBC champ Deontay Wilder, are a long way off, at best. His chief hope at a high-profile, semi-decent money-spinner might be a rematch with Whyte.

But the really big-dollar, world-title fights are now a lot further away than they were before this intriguing contest in which Whyte, surprisingly, outboxed, outfoxed and definitely out-scrapped a man that many presumed to be the superior fighter.

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1 of 11 NICK POTTS/ AP Dillian Whyte connects with a right hand in his fight with Joseph Parker at London's O2 Arena. 2 of 11 AP Dillian Whyte plays to the crowd after putting Joseph Parker on the mat in the ninth round in their London fight at the O2 Arena. 3 of 11 GETTY IMAGES Dillian Whyte connects in his fight with Joseph Parker at London's O2 Arena. 4 of 11 BEN HOSKINS/ GETTY IMAGES Dillian Whyte evades a Joseph Parker right hand in their fight at London's O2 Arena. 5 of 11 NICK POTTS/ AP Dillian Whyte presses Joseph Parker into the ropes in their fight at London's O2 Arena. 6 of 11 GETTY IMAGES Joseph Parker throws an uppercut against Dillian Whyte. 7 of 11 BEN HOSKINS/ GETTY IMAGES Dillian Whyte at full stretch with a high shot to Joseph Parker's head in their fight at London's O2 Arena. 8 of 11 BEN HOSKINS/ GETTY IMAGES Joseph Parker hits the deck in the second round after a head clash with Dillian Whyte at London's O2 Arena. 9 of 11 BEN HOSKINS/ GETTY IMAGES Joseph Parker and Dillian Whyte go toe-to-toe at London's O2 Arena. 10 of 11 BEN HOSKINS/ GETTY IMAGES Joseph Parker makes his way to the ring. 11 of 11 BEN HOSKINS/ GETTY IMAGES Dillian Whyte walks out to the ring to face Joseph Parker at London's O2 Arena.

Whyte put Parker on the canvas for the first time in his career, in the second round (though the Parker camp are dirty on a head butt being ruled a knockdown), and again in the ninth round. He also withstood a late flurry from the Kiwi in the final two rounds that saw the south Londoner cop a standing eight count of his own in the final stanza. But it was not enough. The 31-year-old Whyte won on all three judges' cards, his dominance through the middle rounds behind a jab that scored effectively and a mostly effective defence, just too much for the Kiwi to haul in with his fast finish. Whyte won the fight 113-112 on Steve Gray's card (the closest of the judging trio) and much more convincingly on the other two, 115-110 on Christophe Fernandez' and 114-111 on Phil Austin's. To be fair, they almost certainly had it right. Whyte fought the better fight. He was the crisper, more effective puncher. And he knocked Parker off his equilibrium, first with the head clash, and then later with his concentrated attack behind a jab that got better as the fight wore on. Against predictions, he went the distance. Even Parker admitted as much afterwards when he conceded, "I fought my best and the better man won." Parker's cause was certainly not by that head clash that saw him take a 10-8 round. It may have cost him the fight. He certainly spent many of the rounds that followed looking rather disorientated. Parker hd started well enough, shading the opening round by throwing the more effective punches, including a couple of telling rights that had Whyte backpedalling. He was also well on the way in the second, before the fates intervened. Then things rather got away on him as Whyte took control with tactics both legal and borderline. The Brit won the lion's share of the rounds from three through 10, even though Parker still had moments of clarity, and effectiveness. Maybe the Kiwi won the fifth when he started getting punches through Whyte's defences on a more consistent basis, but the big Londoner then had his best patch of the fight. Suddenly it was his jab doing the damage, his body shots hurting and his defence resolute. The fight slipped away inexorably. The fight took its most decisive turn in the ninth when Whyte put Parker on the deck for the first legitimate time in his career with a left hook that buckled the Kiwi at his knees. Down he went and took the eight count, as well as another of those costly 10-8 round against him. When Whyte followed that up with a strong 10th round, shading Parker behind that left jab that continued to rock the New Zealander's head back, it was all but over. To Parker's credit he rallied late. He came with the kitchen sink. He threw punches in bunches. He even got a knock-down, and might well have won had it gone another round or two. But it didn't. Earlier, the stage had been set beautifully with a thunderous heavyweight entree when local lad, north Londoner Dereck Chisora, knocked out the normally durable and hard-hitting Carlos Takam with a pair of stinging rights in the eighth round.​ Marc Hinton travelled to London with assistance from Duco Events. * Comments on this story are closed

STUFF Dillian Whyte is victorious over Joseph Parker after a thrilling fight in London.

GETTY IMAGES Dillian Whyte clobbers Joseph Parker with a left hook during their heavyweight fight.