Joseph Parker is leaving it up to his promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing to see if he can put together a rematch with Derek Chisora to clear up the controversy over their fight last Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Parker (29-2, 21 KOs) won a 12 round split decision over the 37-year-old Chisora (32-11, 23 KOs) in a fight that many boxing fans felt that he should have lost. The judges scored it 115-113, 116-111 for parker, and 115-113 for Chisora.
Many of the rounds were close, making it almost impossible to tell who they should have gone to. When Parker did let his hands go, it was impressive to watch with his speed, power, and combination punching.
Joseph’s problem was, he wasn’t throwing enough punches, and he was letting badly fatigued Chisora chase him around the ring rather than the other way around.
Whether Parker does or doesn’t give Chisora a rematch is less important than the big problems that he has with his lack of aggression.
This is the same problem that Parker has in the past, which is why he lost to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte.
Parker was supposed to have been fixing that flaw in his game when he changed trainers to Andy Lee to become more aggressive, but there was no difference.
Parker looked just as meek last Saturday night as he’s always looked in his important fights, and it doesn’t bode well for his future.
Parker’s victory over Chisora wasn’t impressive enough for him to make a case that he rates a title shot against the Joshua vs. Tyson Fury fights winner.
The image of a totally exhausted, old-looking Chisora chase around the younger 29-year-old Parker looked out of sorts.
“Look, I got caught with a good shot,” said Parker to iFL TV about getting dropped by Chisora in the first round. “Andy [Lee] told me from the beginning, ‘stay focused, he’s going to come out swinging,’ and that’s exactly what he did.
“Listen, I’ve been a world champion and fought a lot of fights around the world. I had six weeks with Andy, and I still have a lot of things to work on and improve on.
“It was a close fight; he came out strong. We knew what to expect, and he didn’t give up right until the end. I thought it was a really close fight, and towards the end of the fight, Andy told me, ‘You have to win these rounds.’
“You have to box; you have to move. You have to use your jab. That’s what I did. In the end, we felt it was really close and could have gone either way.
“But today is my day; I was grateful to get the results. I thought it was a very close fight. We can have a rematch if that’s what everyone wants to see and if that’s what Chisora wants,” said Parker.
It may be a good idea for Parker to move on because he and Chisora aren’t going to sell a second fight to the boxing public on Sky Box Office. You can’t imagine DAZN will want to put this fight on again.
It’s just Parker, though, that looked bad. Chisora was absolutely awful, gassing out after one round and looking like a fighter with terrible problems with his cardio. Something is not right there.
Chisora needs to drop some weight and change the way he trains because stamina isn’t what it once was years ago, and he would have been easy pickings against an aggressive heavyweight.
“I said [to Lee at the end of the 12th], ‘What do you think?’ And he said, ‘I’m not quite sure, we’ll have to wait and see,'” said Parker. “Today was my day, I’m blessed to get the results, and now I can continue my journey.
“He thought he won, I thought I won, and as I said, it was very close. The judges did what they had to do, and it was a great fight.
“If that’s what Derek wants, it was a very close fight; I’ll give him a rematch. If Eddie [Hearn] can make it happen, we’ll make it happen.
“Anyone, I don’t really care who it is,” said Parker when asked who he wants to fight next if it isn’t Chisora. “Whatever fight they have in mind, I’d like to fight again very soon,” said Parker.
Chisora and Parker should go their separate ways and look elsewhere for different foes.
I don’t know where Chisora can go from there, though, because his stamina is positively dreadful now, and you got to be worried for him.
Something is not right with the guy to look as tired as he did after one round.
Chisora never got his second wind. He was exhausted all the way through the fight and barely able to keep it together.
The fact that Parker couldn’t capitalize on the situation shows how poor a heavyweight he is at this point in his career. Parker was never a great fighter, but he’s lost a lot from his game that he once had.
As for Chisora, he looks no better than 25% of what he once was years ago, and he’s a knockout waiting to happen. At this point, I don’t know what Matchroom can do with Chisora.
If they put him in with a halfway decent heavyweight contender, he’s going to get plowed under. What happens then?
Chisora looks like he’s one fight away from retirement. It could be his next fight if Matchroom puts him in with someone like Joe Joyce, Daniel Dubois, Andy Ruiz Jr, or Deontay Wilder.
