Former two division world champion David Haye has given high praise to Olympic silver medal winner Joe Joyce for his dramatic knockout of former world champion Joseph Parker on Saturday night in Manchester.

In a clash for the vacant WBO interim-title, Joyce started chipping away at a very brave Parker with each passing round.

The end finally came in the eleventh, when a bloody Parker was sent crashing to the mat from a big left hand. Parker was badly hurt, unable to beat the count, and the fight was waved off.

Haye, who was watching from ringside, felt Joyce made a big statement with the victory.

"It was perfect, he went out there and established his jab and completely took Parker's heart away. Parker looked gassed out from the second round, from the second round he was looking uncomfortable," Haye said.

"Joyce just continued to tap tap tap with that jab. There not massive shots but they're shots from a big massive 19 stone man. Parker's gonna have a hell of a headache tomorrow. You've gotta give Parker credit, he took so much punishment in that fight. I'm not sure what he's gonna do going forward but that is as conclusive a beating as you could possibly ever wanna see. We found out finally, does Joyce's chin absorb world-class power? The answer is yes."

Joyce is now in a mandatory position to unified world champion Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA world titles.

Last month, Usyk retained his title with a twelve round decision win in his rematch with Anthony Joshua. Usyk will be looking for the biggest fights possible in 2023 - with WBC champion Tyson Fury and former beltholder Deontay Wilder on his list.