Joseph Parker Has Done It Again, This Time Defeating Zhilei Zhang Over 12 Rounds
Inexplicably, there are still folks out there who believe it when Joseph Parker speaks about knockouts before every single fight. In reality, Parker has never been a KO artist. The knockouts do come when he’s fighting fellas below his level, of course, but against the best in the business he’s always been one to grind it out, to tally up the rounds, fighting smart and using his handspeed and stamina, going the distance for the biscuits. All of his best wins have come that way. And at this stage he’s got quite a few of those.
After defying the odds in blunting and then dominating Deontay Wilder in December, Parker has defied the odds in blunting (sort of) and then dominating (on the cards, at least) Zhilei Zhang less than three months later. He got knocked down twice, once in the third round (opening up a cut on his nose) and then again in the eighth round. But other than that he was able to avoid and occasionally withstand the power of Big Bang Zhang and, as the fight progressed, it steadily became clear that Parker was on course for victory. That Zhang was running out of gas. It’s not often you get dropped twice and still win but this one wasn’t even controversial... the longer the fight went on, the better Joseph Parker got. This was every bit as impressive as what he did to (an under-motivated) Deontay Wilder.
Parker’s impressive wins are tallying up same as the rounds have been. It’s a strange era of heavyweight boxing, mostly because we’ve not had enough bouts between the top dogs. Anthony Joshua’s had a couple. Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk is finally happening in May. But the division has been segmented over the last decade... which makes Parker’s resume look increasingly impressive. He’s beaten Carlos Takam, Andy Ruiz, Derek Chisora, Deontay Wilder, and Zhilei Zhang. He’s also fought, and been defeated by, Anthony Joshua, Dillian Whyte, and Joe Joyce. He doesn’t shirk the main events. He doesn’t flinch at reputations. He’s made a career of taking the highest profile bouts available and right now his reputation has never been bigger.
His fight against Zhang was the co-main bout on the latest Saudi Arabian card, with Anthony Joshua’s demolition of Francis Ngannou happening straight afterwards. The third straight Saudi appearance for Parker. This event was supposed to be Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder. They’d booked it and everything. There was a video announcement scheduled to play after Parker’s fight against Wilder... except that JP upset the apple cart. Apparently, after twice beating Joe Joyce, Zhang asked all around the division for his next effort and nobody wanted a bar of him. Nobody except for Joseph Parker. He’d just made light work of one of the heaviest hitters on the planet so might as well scrap out another.
Zhang is a terrifying human. Wilder is slightly taller but he’s slim, weighing in at 96.6kg, whereas Zhang tipped the scales at a gargantuan 132.3kg. An enormous disparity from opponent to opponent for Parker (who himself weighed in at 112.3kg, his fourth-highest number – and he was going to need every bit of that bulk). Zhang is also a southpaw and Parker had only ever fought one lefty in his career: Jason Bergman way back in 2016, that was the fight he took to Samoa. Having said that, his coach Andy Lee was a southpaw in his career so no excuses.
Last week Steven Adams popped up courtside for a couple of Houston Rockets games, getting to know his new teammates. Amongst all that there were images of him cracking a few jokes with Boban Marjanovic, the 2.24 metre Serbian big fella, who put Adams in the unusual position of looking like a normal sized human in comparison. Joseph Parker is no midget himself, standing at 1.93m... but standing opposite Zhang he was engulfed in the Chinese pugilist’s shadow.
The problem with being that big, though, is having to carry that weight for twelve rounds. Parker’s durability was always going to be his main weapon so it was a matter of getting into those deeper rounds without suffering too much damage. Therefore it makes sense that the first round seemed to unfold in slow motion, almost like watching the two heavyweights moving underwater. Very tentative and very hard to score. Second round was still of a slower tempo... but both guys offered some glimpses. Zhang probably edged it as we got the first hints of his effortless power. Wilder lets you know when the haymaker is coming – he loads it up, he telegraphs it. Zhang does no such thing. His routine punches seem to pack the kind of heaviness that’ll fold a fella in half... and that’s what happened when he caught Parker in the third. A clean shot to the nose that put him on his arse, almost out of nothing.
To be fair, that punch did catch him a little off balance. Parker was doing some funky things by changing his angles, moving his shoulders a lot and bending his knees. It looked like that was the case when Zhang rocked him then (and was definitely the case with the second knockdown, which got him on the back of the head – though admittedly Parker did duck into it)... however Zhang soon had him on the ropes in real danger towards the end of the third. Things weren’t looking great about then, got to admit it. Wasn’t easy to see how Parker could maintain things.
And yet he did. The fourth round was entirely different. JP was able to wobble the big man with some quick in-and-out stuff and despite the bloody nose he surged his way to take that round without doubt and you can make a strong case that he won every single round after that. Even when he got dropped in the eighth there was a case to say he did more work over the full three minutes. Quick hands and relentless focus. Parker was disciplined and in control, picking his moments smartly and, most importantly, avoiding the one-hitter quitters that Zhang might have hoped would swing this thing back in his direction.
It was actually quite astonishing, from where this thing was after three rounds, to realise over the latter stages that Parker was cruising towards the dub. Where Zhang could have gone for the throat after that eighth round knockdown, instead he might as well have taken the ninth off. Andy Lee told Parker during the latter phases of the fight that Zhang was only dangerous in the first thirty seconds of rounds and then he gets tired. He was tired enough that after ZZ’s corner gave him a rev-up leading into the final round, Zhang instead failed to land a single punch in the twelfth. Not one. The funny thing is that throughout the fight old mate Zhang would get hit and then offer an extravagant shrug as if to say: “is that all you’ve got, boy?”. Well, whether they hurt him or not... those shots were what won Parker this bout. Judges scored it 113-113, 114-112, and 115-111 for the majority decision.
It was a weird thing to witness because even Zhang’s jab seemed to be unstoppable early on but his output capitulated as the bout went on. It could only have been fatigue because nothing else could make sense. But then that was the plan for Parker all along – Parker who landed 47% of his power punches compared to just 27% for ZZ. He was far more active attacking the body (there’s a lot of body to attack with Zhang, to be honest), landing with a 38-9 advantage with an overall punch tally of 101 to 75 in JP’s favour.
With that, Parker moves to 35-3 in his professional career. After topping Wilder, after topping Zhang... what’ll be next for him? Apparently a rematch against Zhang because ZZ had a one-way clause written into the contract. If we’re lucky then Zhang won’t take that up but his career kinda desperately needs this defeat to be avenged... he’s 40 years old and probably doesn’t have the time left to work his way back like how Parker has done since some of his defeats. Whether he’s capable of winning a rematch or not, who knows. Unfortunately, that’s the situation facing Parker. Nobody really wants to see that match-up again but that’s boxing for ya.
What Parker really wants to do is to avenge his own losses. That means Joshua, Whyte, and Joyce. As it happens, Whyte and Joyce are both making their comebacks to the ring soon. Whyte was supposed to meet Joshua last year but then failed a drug test. He’s been cleared to return now and will take on Christian Hammer in a pretty funky match-up considering that Whyte’s been out of the ring since 2022, meanwhile Joyce will face Kash Ali which should be a simple win to get him back in rhythm following his defeats against Zhang (rock, paper, scissors: Joyce beat Parker, Zhang beat Joyce, Parker beat Zhang). The fact that both their careers have stumbled lately might just make Joe Parker rematches much more palatable.
As to a scrap with Anthony Joshua, yeah that’s what he’s building towards. The rankings will take care of that. After this win, Parker is now the WBO interim title holder. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything because the belts are all tied up in that Fury vs Usyk bout and unifications take precedent over mandatory challenges. Also, Parker is simply not going to fight his brother Tyson Fury so that could be frisky if Fury wins – which would potentially be followed by Fury vs Joshua. Maybe. Or Fury will just retire again, who knows. There’s also the touted possibility that the IBF belt will be stripped from either Fury or Usyk if that one goes to a rematch, though Parker is no longer be ranked by the IBF. The rankings are for challengers and since Parker is now a WBO title holder, even if it’s just an interim title, he’s no longer eligible (despite having previously been second in the IBF).
In other words: it’s complicated. Things are always changing in boxing and Joseph Parker has very little control over any of it. For now, he’s preparing for a rematch with Zhilei Zhang (after a well-earned break). Beyond that, we shall see. But what we know for sure is that his star has never been brighter in this sport – he had the British broadcasters cheering him on in this one, David Haye was practically praying for a Parker win prior to the fight. He’s toppled Deontay Wilder and he’s toppled Zhilei Zhang and he won both those bouts in his own way, on his own terms. Who saw this coming a couple of years ago?
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