By William Lloyd: Joseph Parker says he wants to fight for a world title next following his dominating 12 round unanimous decision win over Dereck Chisora in their rematch last Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK.
If Parker (30-2, 21 KOs) can’t get a world title shot against one of the champions, he’d like a rematch against Dillian Whyte or possibly a fight against the highly ranked WBO mandatory Joe Joyce.
Getting a title shot against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk or WBC champion Tyson Fury might be a little out of reach right now for the 29-year-old Parker, but there are still some excellent fights that will be available to him.
Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) and his management are currently trying to negotiate a fight with Fury, so they’re not likely to look in the direction of Parker at this time.
In Parker’s rematch with Chisora (32-12, 23 KOs), he looked much improved from his first fight with him last May. Parker dropped Chisora three times last Saturday night and came close to stopping him.
Despite Parker knocking Chisora down several times, the judges scored it relatively close at 114-112, 115-111, and 115-110.
It’s fair to say that Parker might have lost the fight to Chisora without those three knockdowns, which wouldn’t have gone over well with fans.
If you ignore the knockdowns entirely, Parker still dominated the fight and fought well enough to win 10 or 11 rounds.
Parker wants title shot next
“It was a more convincing performance, more dominant, but it was hard, he’s hard work, Dereck,” said Joseph Parker to iFL TV following his win over Chisora last Saturday.
“Anyone,” said Parker when asked who he’ll fight next. “It’s up to David [Higgins], and it’s up to Andy. I don’t really care, to be honest. There’s the belt at the top, and I’d like to fight Dillian [Whyte] again in a rematch. Joe Joyce, his name was mentioned a few times.
“I think harder because I was a lot more positive in this fight, not running away,” said Parker when asked if this was a more difficult fight for him than the first match against Chisora.
“I started strong and did my best to continue it throughout the fight, but he’s a tough guy. He kept coming forward. Every time I hurt him, he knew how to recover, he knew how to dodge the big punches, and he kept coming back more and more.
“I thought so, but he’s a warrior,” said Parker when asked if he was surprised that Chisora was able to recover each time he had him close to being knocked out,” Parker said.
If Parker can’t get a title shot or a rematch with Whyte, these would be good options for him:
- Frank Sanchez
- Filip Hrgovic
- Andy Ruiz Jr
- Joe Joyce
- Daniel Dubois
- Luis Ortiz
Joseph impressed with Chisora’s toughness
Chisora took many hurtful shots in rounds seven, eight, and nine from Parker. After the ninth, Parker seemed to focus on boxing and less on throwing hard shots with mean intentions.
“I hurt him a few times, and I got too excited, and I tried to get him out of there,” said Parker about him getting overanxious after hurting Chisora. But there’s still a lot of work to be done with [trainer] Andy [Lee] in picking my shots, slowing it down, and I’m very happy with the positive fight that I had.
“I just wanted to pick my shots, and I got too excited,” Parker said about the times he had Chisora hurt. “There were three times where he showed his experience and showed that he knows how to get away when he’s hurt in dodging, moving, weaving. But I’m very happy with a better performance tonight.
“I was thinking, ‘What a soldier.’ I think he’s a warrior, and he put it on for the crowd,” Parker said of Chisora. “The crowd really helped him, cheering him on.
“I got him hurt, but he kept coming back and coming back. What can I say? He’s very tough, we shared 24 rounds, and I loved it,” said Parker.
Chisora helped by the crowd
The crowd seemed to help Chisora come back each time he was hurt and close to being knocked out by Parker.
In the ninth round, Chisora was up against the ropes taking massive punishment from Parker, but the crowd pulled him out of a sticky predicament with their cheering.
“I think it intensified from the beginning, and I started stronger and a lot more positive,” Parker said when asked how the additional weight he put on for this fight helped him.
“The weight did help me push him around a little bit, but I still have a lot of work to do. I’ve got to keep practicing with this new extra weight.
“I used it to get strength in the fight,” said Parker when asked how he reacted to all the cheering the fans were doing for Chisora.
“They were all cheering for him, and every time I heard it, he lept coming back. I think the crowd is a very important factor when it comes to big fights. We all feed off the crowd, and we all feed off the energy from the crowd. It was a lot better than the first fight.
“He was saying, ‘you don’t need to load up on all your punches, ‘but you can’t help it when you’re so excited going into a fight,” said Parker when asked what his trainer Andy Lee was telling him during the contest.
“That’s exactly what we’d been working on [uppercut], the jab, uppercut, and roll,” said Parker when asked if he’d been working on his uppercut for the Chisora fight.
“I didn’t finish him off, but every time I did punch and use it, it landed most of the time, and it got him hurt. That was Andy’s game plan, and I did execute it well, but there’s still a lot of work to do,” said Parker.
There was nothing wrong with Parker loading up on his punches because he wouldn’t have been able to hurt Chisora so many times if he’d thrown his shots with less power on them.
Also, with the way the judges were scoring the fight, Parker might have lost if he’d not hurt Chisora so many times.
