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The referee annoyed everyone during Anthony Joshua’s victory over Joseph Parker

Published 23:50 31 Mar 2018 BST

Robert Redmond
The referee annoyed everyone during Anthony Joshua’s victory over Joseph Parker

Homeboxing

It wasn't pretty, but Anthony Joshua managed to record a victory over Joseph Parker on Saturday night in their heavyweight bout at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.

Joshua beat the New Zealander in their heavyweight unification bout and is now the IBF, WBA, IBO and WBO champion. However, at times it was a slog and there were no fireworks in the fight. The British fighter took the early rounds, which were very cagey, before Parker came back into the bout, landing some shots and troubling his opponent. Joshua regained the initiative in the final rounds, but he was taken to the judges' scorecards for the first time in his professional career, where he was awarded the win. The fight never burst into life, and it wasn't helped by the referee, Giuseppe Quartarone. The referee was extremely fussy throughout, regularly stepping between the two fighters just as they were about to exchange punches. It was frustrating to watch and didn't help the bout as a spectacle. He also annoyed a lot of people watching at home, with some comparing Quartarone's performance with that of Premier League referee Mike Dean. https://twitter.com/AlexShawESPN/status/980207616138752000 https://twitter.com/JakeNDaBox/status/980207815150198785 https://twitter.com/DonaldsonESPN/status/980210821459521536 https://twitter.com/AJ_Wood15/status/980210920449245184 https://twitter.com/_PaulHayward/status/980209983521546241 https://twitter.com/JohnBrewin_/status/980209773340741638 https://twitter.com/danrafaelespn/status/980209873475571712 https://twitter.com/WallStRique/status/980209274960928768 https://twitter.com/RealCFrampton/status/980210514180571136 https://twitter.com/jsoverend/status/980209427616845826

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The referee annoyed everyone during Anthony Joshua's victory over Joseph Parker