Joseph Parker survives two knockdowns to outpoint Zhilei Zhang
Zhilei Zhang delivered the two most impactful punches of the fight. It was mostly Joseph Parker beyond that.
Parker survived a pair of knockdowns to defeat Zhang by a majority decision and build on his momentum on the Anthony Joshua-Francis Ngannou card on Friday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The victory was the former titleholder’s fifth in a row after he was stopped in 11 rounds by Joe Joyce in September 2022, including a one-sided decision over Deontay Wilder in his previous fight, on Dec. 23.
Zhilei Zhang knockdown Joseph Parker in round 3 #JoshuaNgannou pic.twitter.com/w5ULeeUDhw
— TakeruCigarra (@TakeruCigarra) March 8, 2024
The fight on Friday was for Zhang’s WBO “interim” title, which puts Parker in a prime position to fight for the sanctioning body’s world title sometime soon.
Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) appeared to be in trouble in Round 3, when a straight left from the Chinese southpaw put him on his trunks.
The Kiwi bounced back to have a strong Round 4 and controlled the next several rounds. Then, in Round 8, a short right hook from Zhang forced Parker to take a knee.
Again, however, he demonstrated impressive resilience by reasserting himself and outboxing Zhang down the stretch.
One judge scored it 113-113, seven rounds to five for Zhang. However, the other two had Parker winning, 115-111 and 114-112.
Parker outworked and outlanded Zhang, according to CompuBox. Parker was 101 of 349 in overall punches, 79 of 168 in power shots. Zhang was 75 of 273 and 40 of 147, respectively.
The loss halted Zhang’s considerable momentum. The 40-year-old was coming off back-to-back knockout victories over Joyce.