WBO vice president John Duggan is fully backing the twelve round majority decision to award WBO heavyweight Joseph Parker a big win over mandatory challenger Hughie Fury last Staurday night in Manchester.

Duggan made it clear that Fury had no chance of having the result overturned by the WBO, and that Parker was a clear winner. He felt the contest was a closely-fought bout, despite the inflated scorecards from the judges.

"I think he won the fight, I think he won a close fight. Just because the score was wide, doesn't mean it wasn't close," Duggan told Newshub. "With the way boxing's scored you can have an extremely close fight, and have a boxer win every round by a close margin. That happens quite a bit."

Fury's promoter, Mick Hennessy, has deemed the result of the fight as controversial, even suggesting corruption was evident in the judge's scoring, and has stated an appeal will be filed.

Duggan said only the British Boxing Board of Control has the power to overturn the decision, which seems unlikely.

The WBO could force Parker to partake in a rematch if the outcome is considered irregular, but whether that will come to fruition also appears unlikely.

"I thought the score [of 118-110] was regular, and I thought the 114-114 score was somewhat unusual," Duggan said. "[Parker] deserved the win. He boxed courageously in a hostile environment."

Parker's promoter, David Higgins of Duco, admits he was nervous after the first card of 114-114 was read.

"I was a little bit nervous after the first card and then very massively relieved when the final card came through," Higgins told Sky Sports.

"I thought Joseph won a close fight, because he put the pressure on and was more active coming forward and we thought that some of Fury's punches maybe shouldn't have been scored, or whatever."

"I should pay credit to the British Boxing Board of Control. I criticised them, but should also be willing to pay credit where it's due, so I think they're quite a fair outfit. When fights are that close, it's probably hard to judge or officiate, there is pressure. I think they erred on just the right side in a pressure situation."