By Scott Gilfoid: The fight that British boxing fans have been anxiously waiting for was announced today with Matchroom revealing that former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker will be battling journeyman Derek Chisora on December 18th at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
This nice little masterpiece will be headlining on DAZN on December 18th in a rematch of their fight earlier this year in May, which Parker (29-2, 21 KOs) won by a 12 round split decision.
Many UK boxing fans were bellyaching about the decision afterward, believing that the 37-year-old Chisora (32-11, 23 KOs) had done enough to deserve the victory.
UK fans having their wish granted
Well, their whining has been listened to by Match and DAZN because now they get to see Chisora and Parker do it again. Hopefully, this will be the last time because it was such an awful fight last time around, and I can’t imagine anything changing with the rematch.
U.S boxing fans didn’t ask for the Parker vs. Chisora 2 rematch, but they’re going to see it anyway because the fight is shown on DAZN. It’s a good undercard-worthy fight, but NOT the main event. No way.
Chisora’s stamina was so terrible that it’s easy to understand why the judges gave the W to Parker. It’s not that Parker looked good because, believe me, he looked dreadful.
Chisora was so painfully slow and gasping for breath from the third. I’ve never seen a fighter so tired as Chisora was, as he looked a 60-year-old out there with Parker.
Comparing how Chisora looked when he battled Vitali Klitschko in 2012 to how he performed against Parker was like watching two different people. Sadly, Chisora looks like he has accelerated decrepitude, and he’s nowhere near the fighter that he was when he gave Klitschko a run for his money.
While Parker is still young in chronological terms at 29, his physical boxing skills had really deteriorated from where he was when he fought Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte in 2018.
Parker is looking shot
In Parker’s last two fights in 2021 against Chisora and Junior Fa looked shot to pieces like a 40+-year-old fighter. Watching Parker labor to a pair of decision victories over Chisora and Fa, his fights against Joshua and Whyte took more out of him than originally thought. That sometimes happens to a fighter, and one fight can change everything.
Anyway, Chisora is coming into the December 18th rematch with a two-fight losing streak. Before getting beaten by Parker, Chisora lost a 12 round unanimous decision to Oleksandr Usyk in October 2020.
It was a close fight, but only because the 217-lb former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk was so badly outweighed by the 255-lb Chisora.
It’s anyone’s guess what the end game is for Chisora and Parker. Given how poor both of them have looked in their last three fights, it’s difficult to picture either of them fighting for a world title against Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury.
Heck, Chisora has already lost badly to Fury twice in the distant past, and that was when he was a lot younger than he is now. I think it would be awful for the boxing public if Chisora were to fight for a title against Joshua or Fury.
We’re talking first round knockout if either of the champions steps on the gas pedal coming out of the gate, and Parker is almost as bad as Chisora.
Chisora and Parker are good cogs to use for the younger contenders in the division to use as trial horses, but I can’t imagine either of them fighting for a world title ever again at this point.