Chisora – Parker, Bivol – Richards & Eubank Jr – Morrison this Saturday

By Boxing News - 04/26/2021 - Comments

By Barry Holbrook: Dereck Chisora fights Joseph Parker, Chris Eubank faces Marcus Morrison, and WBA light heavyweight champion Dimitry Bivol defends against Craig Richards this Saturday, May 1st on DAZN and Sky Sports Box Office. The card is taking place at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

Chisora (32-10, 23 KOs) is the underdog against former WBO heavyweight champion Parker (28-2, 21 KOs) for obvious reasons.

Parker, 29, is considerably younger than the 37-year-old Chisora, and he hasn’t lost a fight in three years since suffering consecutive defeats against Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua in 2018.

If this fight had taken place three years ago, Parker would be seen as a sure thing winner against Chisora. But in Parker’s last couple of fights against Junior Fa and Shawndell Winters, he’s looked slower, not impressive.

At 29, Parker appears to be aging rapidly and isn’t showing the form that he had earlier in his career.

In Parker’s last fight against the big 6’6″ Fa in February, he looked sluggish, holding frequently, and unable to throw more than two shots without tiring and tying up with the New Zealander.

Image: Chisora - Parker, Bivol - Richards & Eubank Jr - Morrison this Saturday

In contrast, Chisora is looking better than ever in his recent fights against Oleksandr Usyk, David Price, and Artur Szpilka.

Although Chisora lost a close 12 round decision to Usyk last October, he looked throughout. Had Chisora not gassed in the championship rounds, he would have won the fight. It’s difficult to imagine Parker doing a better job against Usyk than Chisora.

Dimitry Bivol vs. Craig Richards

WBA light heavyweight champion Dimitry Bivol (17-0, 11 KOs) is coming off a year and a half layoff when he defends his title against #5 WBA contender Craig ‘Spider’ Richards (16-1-1, 9 KOs) on the card.

The highly technical Bivol, 30, is one of the most talented fighters in the 175-lb division today, but he hasn’t had the opportunity to take on a big enough name to increase his popularity.

Richards, 30, is coming off the biggest win of his career in stopping previously unbeaten Shakan Pitters in the ninth round last December. That was a huge win for Richards, resulting in him being pushed up the rankings.

Aside from Richards’ victory over Pitters, there’s not much on his resume that would suggest that he’ll be able to unseat Bivol.

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It’s believed that if Bivol could face IBF/WBC champion Artur Beterbiev if he defeats WBO champion Joe Smith Jr in a unification fight.

There will be all four titles on the line when Bivil fights Beterbiev. That’s a fight that could take Bivol’s popularity to the next level if he can somehow defeat the two-time Russian Olympian Beterbiev.

Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Marcus Morrison

Former IBO super middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr (29-2, 22 KOs) is coming off a long layoff to face Marcus Morrison (23-3, 16 KOs) in a 10-round warm-up fight.

Image: Chisora - Parker, Bivol - Richards & Eubank Jr - Morrison this Saturday

Eubank Jr, 31, last fought in December 2019, stopping Matt Korobov in the second round after the Russian fighter had suffered an arm injury and couldn’t continue.

It’s unfortunate that Eubank’s career has been sidelined for over a year due to the pandemic right when he was put in the position to challenge for a world title.

Eubank Jr is now fighting at 160 and ranked #1 WBA, in a position to challenge for the title against champion Ryota Murata.

With that said, Eubank Jr will need to wait until 2022 before he’s given a shot at the WBA belt, and even then, it might not be against Murata.

He’s expected to fight IBF middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin on December 31st, and the chances of Murata keeping the WBA belt are quite low indeed.

It would be for the better for Eubank Jr if Golovkin takes the WBA belt from Murata, but there are no guarantees that the Kazahstan fighter will agree to face him.

Other undercard fights

  • James Tennyson (28-3, 24 KOs) v Jovanni Straffon (23-3-1, 16 KOs)
  • Katie Taylor (17-0, 6 KOs) vs. Natasha Jonas (9-1-1, 7 KOs)
  • Campbell Hatton (1-0) vs. TBA
  • Scott Fitzgerald (14-0, 9 KOs)