By Jack Tiernan: Former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker predicts a knockout between the 6th and 10th rounds of Dereck ‘War’ Chisora this Saturday night in their rematch at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
On paper, this should be an easy fight for the 29-year-old Parker, as he’s younger, stronger, faster, and more technically skilled than the 37-year-old Chisora.
Mentally, you can argue that Parker is a basket case and not equipped to beat up old journeyman fighters like Chisora the way that other top-tier heavyweights like Frank Sanchez, Daniel Dubois, or Joe Joyce would.
Those guys would likely make easy work of Chisora at this late stage of his 14-year career. Heck, even prospect Jared Anderson would obliterate Chisora in two or three rounds and send him into retirement. The fact that Parker failed to destroy Chisora last May in their previous fight is a red flag that he doesn’t belong in the top ten in the division.
Parker (29-2, 21 KOs) says the 37-year-old former heavyweight world title challenger Chisora (32-11, 23 KOs) ONLY knows “war,’ and he’s going to take advantage of his one-dimensional style of fighting by “boxing smart” on Saturday, December 18th.
By Joseph Parker saying that he’s going to box clever against Chisora on Saturday can be interpreted as code for him making it dull and fighting in a safety-first manner like he did last May in their first fight.
Parker was knocked down in the first round by Chisora last May after getting hit with a textbook rabbit punch to the back of the head, which the referee failed to address. It was a clear rabbit shot from Chisora, which Parker should have seen coming.
Chisora is dangerous with his rabbit punching
If Parker had done his homework and watched Chisora’s previous fights, he would have known to be on the lookout for those dangerous shots.
For example, look at Chisora’s wins over Malik Scott and Carlos Takam to see him landing punches to the back of his opponent’s heads to hurt them.
Oddly, many referees don’t prevent fighters from using the illegal rabbit punches. Despite the danger involved to the fighters that get hit with those punches, referees often do nothing to warn or penalize fighters that throw them.
The way Chisora looked last May in their previous fight, Parker could have easily knocked him out if he’d thrown a flurry of shots.
Chisora looked so incredibly tired that he would have been food for ANY heavyweight in the division, even the bottom feeders.
At this point in Chisora’s career, he looks very shot, and Parker shouldn’t be struggling against this level of opposition.
If Parker had unloaded on Chisora in their previous fight, he would have knocked him out within three rounds.
At this point in Parker’s career, he should be destroying journeyman-level opposition like Chisora quickly instead of fighting cautiously and treating him like he’s a relevant contender.
Parker predicting knockout of Chisora
“A war from Chisora and probably a knockout from me between the rounds six and ten,” said Parker to iFL TV when asked what the fans can expect to see between him and Dereck on Saturday.
“What I’ve done in training has given me confidence. I’m going to back myself,” said Parker. “Power, speed, not using too much movement or wasting too much energy. I’ll do what I need to do.
“Yeah, going into fights, you always want to get the knockout,” said Parker in responding to Chisora, saying that he looks like he’s added muscle and is going to be looking for a knockout.
“I know I haven’t had the best performances. The first fight with Dereck was close, and the fights before that [against Junior Fa, Shawndell Terrel Winters, and Alex Lepai] weren’t the best performances, but going into every fight, you want to get a knockout. That’s what everyone wants, but I’m NOT going to put that pressure on,” former WBO heavyweight champion Parker said.
If this fight goes 12 rounds like the previous one between these two heavyweights, it’ll be viewed as a sign that Parker isn’t ready to fight for a world title.
To be considered a viable opponent for the world champions, Parker has got to be able to knock out old guys at Chisora’s level.
The fact that Parker was forced to go 12 rounds and win a controversial 12 round split decision in their previous fight shows that he’s not an A-level heavyweight.
Although Parker has the talent to be an elite heavyweight, mentally, he’s a nice guy and lacks the killer instinct to compete at a high level. In other words, Parker is too cautious for his own good and makes fights that should be easy for him quite tricky.
Joseph will be ready for Chisora’s WAR
“I’m just going to go out there and fight him and fight him smart,” said Parker. “I don’t think it’s going to go 12 rounds. The last one went 12 rounds, and it was good.
“I got the engine to go 12 rounds, but I don’t want to keep going 12 rounds. That’s not exciting; that’s not fun.
“The world title is what I want to get to in the future, but it’s not on my mind at the moment. I just want to take it fight by fight. If I’m just present with the fights that I have, eventually it’ll come,” said Parker about him getting another world title shot at some point.
“I’m ready for whatever he brings,” Parker said of Chisora. “He always brings war. That was an epic fight between him and Dillian Whyte. That was great to see, but that’s all he knows, and that’s all he’s going to bring is war. I’m ready for it,” said Parker.
If Parker boxes Chisora like he did last time, he’s going to put the boxing fans asleep at the Manchester Arena, and he might wind up losing the contest.
Maybe that’ll be a wake-up call for Parker that he needs to begin fighting with more aggression if he wants to be a significant player in the heavyweight division.
