HUGHIE FURY failed in his quest to become the next heavyweight world champ from the family as he fell to a contentious points defeat by Joseph Parker.
The 23-year-old was hoping to claim the belt once held by elder cousin Tyson, but at the Manchester Arena he came up short against the undefeated Kiwi.
He went down 114-114, 118-110, 118-110 on the judges? scorecards in a majority decision.
It was Fury?s first defeat in 21 fights as a professional while Parker goes to 24 straight wins.
The result sets up the real possibility of Parker fighting British heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua in the near future in a unification blockbuster.
Parker came out flying in the opening seconds, and had Fury up against the ropes with huge sighs from the watching crowd.
But Fury danced his way out of trouble, as Parker worked out his next attack.
Fury seemed like he wanted to utilise the jab early doors, while rugged Parker already seemed to be looking for that huge hayemaker.
The second round saw Parker once again look to dominate from the centre of the ring, but Fury was proving he had the footwork to get out of trouble.
And two minutes in he landed his most telling shot of the fight so far that seemed to ruffle Parker. On the counter, he threw a huge left that saw his Kiwi opponent slump onto his shoulder.
While Parker seemed to soak it up pretty well, it gave the watching Manchester crowd encouragement that their man could rock the champ.
Fury spoke candidly in the week about suffering a skin condition that led to his skin bleeding, and at the start of the third the first sign of blood came to the fore.
Thankfully it was on his back, so was nothing for Parker to get excited about.
The two heavyweights tended to use the third to settle into the fight and try out different counters, but little was landed.
Fury started the fourth on the front foot for the first time in the fight, and found some joy with a huge left uppercut 30 seconds in.
