Mora Backs Parker to “Stick and Move” Past Zhang in Riyadh

Commentator Sergio Mora predicts victory for Joseph Parker over the “plodding” WBO interim heavyweight champion Zhilei Zhang in their twelve-round contest on March 8th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Mora, a pure boxer during his career at 154, is siding with former WBO heavyweight champion Parker to use his legs to outbox the bigger, slower, but more powerful Zhang.

Parker (34-3, 23 KOs) and Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KOs) will be the chief support for the Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou card on DAZN in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and there’s an excellent chance that they’ll upstage the main event contest.

Confidence Soaring

Sergio’s belief in the 31-year-old Parker stems from his upset of former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder on the December 23rd ‘Day of Reckoning’ card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Parker took advantage of a hair-brained game plan that Deontay came into the fight with, which involved nonstop movement and very few punches being thrown.

With the ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder moving in circles all night without throwing anything, Parker took advantage of his lack of activity to edge the rounds. The always cautious Parker didn’t throw a lot of punches either, but he did enough to win the rounds to win a wide twelve-round unanimous decision.

Plodding Puncher vs. Boxing Artist

“He [Parker] beat up Wilder; he got him on the back foot because he executed a game plan that he and [his coach] Andy Lee had,” said Mora to DAZN Boxing.

“You can bet they will have something similar for an even bigger, slower heavyweight in Zhilei Zhang. At 40 years old, the legs have to be going, and he’s a plodding puncher,” said Mora.

Although Zhang’s feet are slower than Parker’s, his hand speed is superior, and he’s a much bigger puncher than him. Zhang’s accuracy is better, and he’s more fearless.

The two-time Chinese Olympian Zhang’s size advantage over Parker is another asset he has in his favor, and that’s a lot of things to have going for him.

Mora seems to be under the impression that Parker’s performance against Wilder showed that he’s suddenly made huge improvements in his game and can waltz through the A-level fighters now. That may not be the case.

What ultimately wrecked Wilder’s chances of winning was the foolish game plan he was given by choosing to use movement instead of going right at Parker like Joe Joyce had to break him down.