By Mark Eisner: Heavyweight contender Joseph Parker 30-2, 21 KOs) made Dereck Chisora (32-12, 23 KOs) look old on Saturday night in defeating him by a 12 round unanimous decision in their rematch at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Chisora was down in rounds 4, 7, and 8.

In the ninth, Chisora was close to being knocked out after Parker nailed him with a barrage of punches while he was backed against the ropes.

The scores were 115-110, 115-111, 114-112. You can argue the scores should have been much wider than those three, but at least the judges picked the right guy as the winner.

Parker hurt Chisora four badly and had him close to being knocked on three occasions. If not for Parker’s decision to fight cautiously after hurting Chisora, he would have likely knocked him at some point.

Undercard results:

- Kevin Lele Sadjo (17-0, 15 KOs) stopped Jack Cullen (20-3-1, 9 KOs) in the sixth round to capture the vacant EBU European super middleweight title. France’s 31-year-old Sadjo landed a sickeningly powerful left to the body of Cullen in the sixth, sending him down on the canvas in pain. Although Cullen beat the count, the referee John Lathan halted the fight anyway after deciding that he was too hurt to continue. The crowd booed Sadjo moments after the fight, as he celebrated a little too much, shouting and doing pushups inside the ring. Cullen fought well for the most part, but Sadjo began catching him with right hands to the head beginning in the fourth, and it was clear that he wasn’t tracking those punches well.
  
  In the sixth, Sadjo changed things up by suddenly switching his attention to the body of Cullen, and he wasn’t prepared. Earlier in the fight, Cullen suffered a cut over his left eye from a clash of heads with Sadjo.
- Zelfa Barrett (27-1, 16 KOs) put on a masterclass performance in defeating the all-action Bruno Tarimo (26-3-2, 5 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous in an IBF super featherweight world title eliminator. In the third round, Barrett, 28, knocked Tarimo down with a left hand to the head after catching him coming in. The scores were 117-110, 117-110, and 116-111. Barrett moved around the ring the entire fight, avoiding the attacks from Tarimo and catching him with shots repeatedly.

Using his slick pull-back fighting style, undefeated fringe contender Lerrone Richards (16-0, 3 KOs) defeated previously unbeaten Carlos Gongora (20-1, 15 KOs) by a 12 round split decision. The scores were 115-113, 115-113 for Richards, and 116-112. Boxing News 24 had it for the 29-year-old Richards by a 116-112 score. He controlled the fight with his jab, movement, tying up, and his pull-back. The clinching from Richards prevented the 32-year-old Gongora from getting off when he was in close. When the action was on the outside, Richards dominated with his reach and hand speed. The only times Gongora did reasonably well is when he was in close, but he didn’t possess the inside game to deal with tying up that Richards was doing.

A better inside fighter like David Benavidez would have been a lot of trouble for Richards. If Richards is going to compete with guys like Benavidez, he must develop an inside game because he would have been chopped apart by the young 24-year-old if he’d been in there tonight rather than Gongora. As for Gongora, he’s got to show more ambition. He looked tired and unmotivated during the fight, and he allowed Richards to tie him up without fighting through the clinch. Fighters from the past like Nigel Benn worked on the inside, but we didn’t see that from Gongora. He looked like he’d never been trained to fight in close, and that allowed Richards to stymie his offense on the inside.
Unbeaten heavyweight Alen ‘The Savage’ Babic (10-0, 10 KOs) had to walk through fire to stop journeyman David Spilmont (11-8-1, 7 KOs) by a sixth round knockout. Fighting on two weeks’ notice, the 31-year-old Babic was hurt in the third round after walking into a hard left hand from the big southpaw Spilmont. Babic came back to drop Spilmont in the fourth and sixth rounds. The fight was stopped after Babic dropped Spilmont in the sixth.

“He’s not going to beat Oscar Rivas fighting like that,” said promoter Eddie Hearn about Babic. Spillmont was able to hit Babic at will with shots due to his poor defense. For Babic to defeat Rivas, he’s going to need to focus on his defense because he was getting too much tonight by a fighter that should have been able to blow him out. It’s certainly not a good sign that Babic was fought to almost a standstill by an 11-8 heavyweight. If Babic fights like this against Rivas, he’s not going to last long against him.

Preview:

Parker has added 10 lbs of bulk to his frame, coming in at 251 lbs during Friday’s weigh-in.

Unfortunately, the weight that Parker has put on doesn’t appear to be all muscle, seeing that his midsection appears soft.

The fans largely agreed that ‘War’ Chisora (32-11, 23 KOs) should have had his hand raised if the judges had scored the contest correctly.

Parker-Chisora II undercard

Carlos Gongora vs. Lerrone Richards
Jack Cullen vs. Kevin Lele Sadjo
Zelfa Barrett vs. Bruno Tarimo
Alen Babic vs. David Spilmont
Sandy Ryan vs. Maria Soledad Capriolo
Rhiannon Dixon vs. Vaida Masiokaite
Jordan Thompson vs. Piotr Budziszewski
David Nyika vs. Anthony Carpin

Parker looked “petrified” during the weigh-in

Chisora looked like he wanted to slap Parker, 29, during the face-off on Friday, and you could clearly see fear in the eyes of the New Zealander.

Parker appeared nervous as if he wasn’t sure if Chisora would swat him hard as he’d done during his face-off with Vitali Klitschko in 2012.

“He looks in great shape, though. He doesn’t look chunky or overweight. I think they’re coming in for an early finish,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing Social on Joseph Parker weighing in at 251 lbs.

“I think they’re [Team Parker] are going to look to hold their feet and take him out. And I think him and Andy [Lee] know that you’ve got to look good in this fight to even start thinking to even start talking about challenging for the world heavyweight title,” Hearn said of Parker needing to look sensational against Chisora.

“And I think they’re going to go in tomorrow and try and outmuscle him [Chisora], sit on him, and push him back. If they do that, we’re going to get an absolute thriller.

“When he pulled down that thing and said, ‘Eddie,’ I just thought, ‘Oh.’ But that head-to-head, obviously Parker is not scared of Dereck Chisora, but he was petrified up there because he looked like he was about to do something.

“That’s what Dereck does. He wants to put you on edge, and I think that was just him looking him in the eyes, saying, ‘I’m ready for tomorrow night, so be ready,'” said Hearn.

Parker vs. Chisora 2 = War

“I really think the last time that we had a really good fight, not a fight of the year, but we had a really good fight behind closed doors, tomorrow we’ll have a big crowd and a great undercard. And I think we’re going to have a good fight,” said Hearn of the Parker vs. Chisora 2 contest.

“There are four really brilliant 50-50 fights tomorrow night. I know everyone wants 50-50 fights, but it’s hard to deliver loads of them due to different circumstances. But tomorrow you’ve got a really good card and a really good atmosphere. I think you’re going to get a brilliant night of boxing.

“That’s a good question,” said Hearn when asked what contest on the card will be the ‘Fight of the night.’ “Lerrone Richards and Congora is one of my fights of the night. Can it catch fire? Lerrone has got a style and Congora is going to walk him down.

“Tarimo – Barrett would be brilliant because Tarimo will not stop coming forward, and Jack Cullen is never in a bad fight. That’s a really tough fight against an unbeaten Frenchman [Kevin Lele Sadjo] with 16 wins and 14 knockouts.

“Chisora – Parker, you’re never going to get a bad fight, are you? It’s either going to be a brutal war of attrition or someone is getting cleaned out. I’m going to go with the latter tomorrow night,” said Hearn.

Undercard loaded for Parker-Chisora 2

“I want him to win tomorrow, fight [Lukasz] Rozanski in a final eliminator, and then fight Oscar Rivas for the world Bridgerweight title,” Hearn said of heavyweight Alen Babic.

“He’s [Babic] not a heavyweight and he won’t like me saying that. He’s 9-0 with 9 knockouts, he’s doing everything right, and he’s entertaining every time.

“So, this guy [David Spillmont] is pretty tough, but he should steamroll through him, and then I want to see him fight Oscar Rivas, which is a really tough fight, by the way, but that’s what they want,” said Hearn.

“I think if you move on from that situation, people who thought it was a close fight would say, ‘Chisora won. You don’t deserve to move on,” said Hearn to Behind The Gloves in reacting to Dereck saying that Parker should have moved on rather than giving him a rematch.

“Fair play to Joe [Parker]. He said, ‘I can beat him better than that, I can knock him out and I want to make a statement,'” Hearn continued. “A statement is important for Parker because he wants to become a two-time heavyweight champion.

“I’m not sure he can, but if you want to get the opportunity, you’ve got to excite them, you’ve got to look good. I think the way he [Parker] weighed in, heavy but strong, I think he’s going to go for it tomorrow night with Andy Lee.

“I think they’re going to go out and try and make a statement and knock Chisora out early and try and start fast, which is good news for Dereck. And I don’t think this fight goes 12 rounds.

“I think it’ll be all over within eight or nine and I think it’ll be a firefight,” said Hearn of the Parker vs. Chisora 2 rematch.

Dereck Chisora will be attempting to avenge his loss tonight when he battles Joseph Parker in a rematch at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. The card begins at 1:00 p.m. ET, LIVE on DAZN.

Most would agree, if Parker loses tonight or looks bad in winning, it could permanently ruin his dreams of trying to become a two-time heavyweight champion.

These two big heavyweights battled last May in a fight won by former WBO champion Parker (29-2, 21 KOs) by a 12 round split decision, but the results left few fans satisfied.

Boxing News 24 will be giving LIVE results & updates for the Parker vs. Chisora 2 contest below. 20-3-1, 9