Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker will defend the interim WBO title on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s face-off with Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia.
A bout in between Zhang and Deontay Wilder had actually formerly been gone over, however the Chinese heavyweight competitor will now handle Parker in Riyadh on Friday, March 8.
The New Zealander rose himself back into title contention with a dominant consentaneous choice win over Wilder at the Kingdom Arena in December.
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Joseph Parker thinks that ‘lack of exercise’ played a huge part in his shock win over American heavyweight Deontay Wilder
Previous WBO heavyweight champ Parker now deals with the interim title-holder Zhang, who is coming off back-to-back blockage wins over Joe Joyce in April and September in 2015, and has actually collected a 26-1-1 (21) record because turning expert in August 2014.
The very first of those success versus British heavyweight Joyce saw Zhang, 40, declare the interim WBO title The complete variation is presently held by Oleksandr Usyk, who deals with Tyson Fury in a bout for undeniable status in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, February 17.
Parker, on the other hand, battled 4 times in 2023 and notched up success in all of those to put an 11th-round KO by Joyce in September 2022 behind him.
The 31-year-old’s record now stands at 34-3 (23) and his promoter, David Higgins, informed Sky Sports last month he thinks Parker has actually silenced the critics following that upset win over the hard-punching Wilder.
Zhilei Zhang is the present holder of the WBO interim heavyweight title.
” For me, it was the very best efficiency of Joseph’s profession,” Higgins stated.
” The factor I state that is due to the fact that those huge, worldwide, pay-per-view battles have an unique pressure about them, the eyes of the world are upon you and versus his challenger, a homicidal puncher, among the most feared in history, you can’t truly explain what that pressure resembles till you have actually remained in that circumstance.
” A number of times he lost [in his career], however this time he preserved a cool head, was client, revealed intent, stayed with the battle strategy, endured the pressure. He didn’t simply win however controlled Wilder.
” His skeptics and individuals composing him off, he’s definitely shut that crowd up. In New Zealand, the leading papers stated he is back, and he’s got another perform at a world title.”