Zhang was robbed AGAIN

Over the course of those 12 rounds Zhang appeared to age about 20 years. By the end he wasn't throwing anything.

 

Parker clearly won this fight. Zhang and Joyce appeared late on the elite scene to be honest.

 

Zhang robbed us fans of a great fight. He gassed early, fought in spurts, and really didn't show any urgency down the stretch. He got out boxed by a newly rejuvenated Parker, who despite getting knockdown twice showed heart and determination and wasn't going to be denied. He beat both Wilder and Zhang b2b, and beat them both convincingly. Great stuff from Parker.

 

Well they are contractually obligated to rematch, so maybe Zhang gets robbed again?
Please, the Great Wall looked like a stone wall most of the fight, barely moving.

He could possibly ko Parker next time, but he isn't getting younger and it's highly unlikely he will be learning to fight for 12 rounds on his toes.

 

Parker clearly won. Both 114-112 and 115-111 are acceptable scores.

I scored it 115-112 because I scored round 2 even 10-10.

 

KOing Parker won't be easy even with Zhang's bonkers power. I don't think Parker was that seriously hurt the both times he was down. The first knockdown he was simply caught clean when in a bad position and was knocked off his feet, but got up at 3 and never looked in serious trouble. The 2nd knockdown was worse as he was caught behind the ear, but he had the mental faculties to stay down, recover and rise at 8 and proceed to win the remainder of the round.

While Zhang has more than enough power to put Parker down, he doesn't have the volume required to break him down like Joyce did and I think it will require a sustained barrage to finish him which he doesn't have the gas tank to do or land a truly monster of a shot while Parker is himself throwing like how he caught Joyce. But Parker is defensively responsible and has shown the type of patience and tactical thinking in his last two fights that means it's really unlikely he gives Zhang the opportunity to land that type of shot.

Whatever Zhang does in the rematch he has to be in better shape and needs to find a way to pick the smaller Parker off at range with his jab, otherwise we'll see a repeat of the first fight.

 

Go read a book about boxing and educate yourself.

 

Not really. But at least you can make an argument for a rematch.

Wlad Klitschko vs Sam Peter in 2005 was similar. Peter dropped Wlad 3 times but Wlad won on points. This was the same here.

 

Aside from the two knockdowns Parker dominated Zhang. It wasn’t close.

 

Zhang could and should have been able to win it. He appeared in poor physical condition. Did he even train for this?

 

If you're up 2 knockdowns and lose anyway its your fault.

 

Parker clearly won the fight. Stop it.

 

I'm sure he trained but the problem was he probably ate too much to go with it. It was Chinese New Year last month, so lots of food and celebrations, it's the biggest holiday in China and lasts 15 days. Like they say you can't out train a bad diet.

 

There are probably very few people who wanted Zhang to win this fight more than me, and I was incredibly disappointed with the result, but it was perfectly fair. I'd say Zhang won the first two rounds and the knockdowns he got in 3 and 8 had him 76-74 going into the last four... but then he didn't do anything at all, so 114-112 for Parker is fair. Hell, I don't even have much problem with 115-111, since I think you can make a reasonable argument for Parker getting one of the first two rounds, 2 I think it was.

It was a very frustrating watch, as someone who was rooting for Zhang. He had Parker hurt in those knockdowns, they might not have been "Oh wow, he hardly beat the count!" type things, but he definitely had him to where some better follow up would've got the job done, in my opinion at least. That said, the lack of successful followup wasn't just on Zhang, Parker had his plan and he executed it well, and when faced with adversity he had a way to stifle Zhang's further success. There were a handful of moments throughout the fight he was tagged and visibly hurt, but he blunted the momentum by smothering Zhang, buying recovery time and getting back to business. Man had a plan and stuck to it even after getting punched in the mouth, gotta give props there.

I feel like the rematch is winnable for Zhang, but he's gotta come in better shape. Don't get me wrong, his inactivity wasn't all because of him, a lot of it came down to Parker's movements, but his tank was particularly god awful even by his standards, and I think his extra weight played a part in that. Granted, it was just a few pounds more than in his fight with Joyce, but he looked to be in much better shape for that fight, so I'm thinking it was more flab than muscle this time around. He came within one round of getting a reasonable draw, and one knockdown round of getting a split decision. Man needs to use that as motivation to get a gas tank that'll last another round or two

 

Close fight but clear rounds was my take. Impossible to make a convincing case for Zhang.