Joseh Parker’s team wants good referee for Dereck Chisora fight

By Boxing News - 09/27/2019 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Joseph Parker’s team are worried about the type of referee that will be working during his next fight against veteran Dereck Chisora on October 26 at the O2 Arena in London, England. Former WBO heavyweight champion Parker (26-2, 20 KOs) will be fighting 35-year-old Chisora in his backyard in London. The fight be shown on Sky Sports Box Office.

New Zealander Parker, 27, had a bad experience when he came to the UK in the past to face Anthony Joshua, Dillian Whyte and Hughie Fury. Parker wishes that he doesn’t have to fight both Chisora and the referee at the same time when he gets inside the ring at the O2 Arena. Parker is now with British promoter Eddie Hearn, and his desire is that the referee does a good job of controlling his fight. Joseph is particularly concerned with the fouling that Chisora does.

Team Parker wants Chisora’s fouling to be policed by referee

Parker wants to make sure the referee monitors the fouling from Chisora, because he doesn’t want that to get out of hand during the fight. In Parker’s contest against Whyte in July of 2018 at the O2, Dillian roughed him up for 12 rounds without the referee Ian John Lewis stepping in to warn, penalize or disqualify Dillian for his roughhouse tactics.

Parker-Chisora will be fighting in the co-main event on the Regis Prograis vs. Josh Taylor card.

“My biggest concern about this whole fight is the officials. I’m hoping now that we’ve signed with Eddie – I’m not worried about the judges because they are going to be independent – but I’m worried about the referee,” said Parker’s trainer Kevin Barry to skysports.com. “It’s very, very important that we get a referee who can control a physical fight of this magnitude and can give us an even playing field. I think we’ve earned that from The BBBofC.”

Barry brings up a good point about the need of a competent referee to be appointed for the Parker vs. Chisora fight. What Parker doesn’t need is for the fight to be conducted on a primitive level. Parker wants the Marquess of Queensberry rules to be followed for this fight.

Chisora needs victory over Parker to keep career afloat

The 35-year-old Chisora (31-9, 22 KOs) badly needs a victory over Parker to keep his career above water, as he’s had problems when he’s tried fighting better opposition. Chisora is ranked at #9 with the World Boxing Council after losing to Dillian Whyte by an 11th round knockout last December.

Since that loss, Chisora has rebounded with consecutive wins over marginal opponents Artur Szpilka and Senad Gashi to get back to his winning ways. Those are the types of fighters that Chisora typically beats. Chisora comes apart when he’s put in with better opposition like Kubrat Pulev, Whyte, Vitali Klitschko, Tyson Fury and Agit Kabayel.

YouTube video