Joseph Parker continued his career resurrection with a majority decision win over Zhilei Zhang in Saudi Arabia, which comes less than three months after he pulled off a massive upset to beat Deontay Wilder.
The heavyweight fight served as the co-main event for the Knockout Chaos card headlined by former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou taking on Anthony Joshua.
There were some dicey moments for Parker in the fight, especially with Zhang putting him on the canvas with a pair of knockdowns in round 3 and again in round 8. Still, Parker kept getting back up and his activity combined with Zhang offering almost no resistance whatsoever allowed the New Zealand native to win enough rounds to make up for lost ground.
When it was over the judges scored the fight 115-111, 114-112 and 113-113, which was enough for Parker to secure the victory.
“This is a great win,” Parker said. “Zhang is a tough man, knocked me down twice. Listen, I’m really happy. I want to go home and celebrate! Hard work, hard work, hard work. It’s an incredible feeling coming back from that loss and look where we are.”
There wasn’t a lot happening early in the fight with Parker staying wary of Zhang’s immense power as he looked to stick and move to ensure he didn’t stay in front of his opponent for too long or risk some serious consequences.
It wasn’t until the third round when Zhang finally unleashed a bullet from his left hand with a straight punch down the middle that blasted Parker and sent him crashing to the canvas. Parker got back to his feet to make the 10 count but he was definitely rattled from the shot that put him down.
Zhang attempted to follow up with another flurry just before the round ended but he couldn’t quite land the necessary punch to end Parker’s night.
The knockdown definitely helped Zhang’s confidence as he came out firing in the fourth but that nearly cost him. Parker matched him punch for punch and he found a home for a stiff overhand right that caught Zhang off balance momentarily.
Zhang shook off the punch but he was also a little more reserved coming out of that exchange to ensure that he didn’t leave himself open for a Parker counter shot.
As the fight moved into the later rounds, Parker’s activity was really the difference because he continued to work from the outside, peppering away with punches and Zhang barely answering back. Zhang’s inactivity really became his biggest enemy with Parker’s output likely helping him to secure rounds on the scorecards.
With Zhang just pawing away at him, Parker continued to launch a series of hard right hands and then ducking to avoid at the few punches coming back at him. That all changed in the eighth round when Zhang plodded forward and he stepped into an exchange with a right hand that bounced off the side of Parker’s head and sent him down to a knee.
Parker needed a few moments to gather himself as he shook loose the cobwebs to restart the action before the end of the 10 count. Sadly, Zhang’s reaction to his second knockdown was much like the first where he just wouldn’t engage and never really let his hands go.
In return, Parker just kept chipping away and then moving around the ring to make Zhang chase him. By the time the fight moved into the 12th and final round, Zhang’s coaches were urging him to go for the knockout or risk losing the fight.
Zhang’s response? He didn’t land a single punch in the final three minutes.
That really was the story of the fight as Parker just stayed busier and more active from the first round until the last as he got the win and took home the interim WBO heavyweight title. Afterwards, Parker revealed that he expected to see Zhang again with an automatic rematch clause in the contract for the fight, which means these two will likely see each other a second time before 2024 is over.
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