Who will you be rooting for: Joseph Parker or Zhilei Zhang?

Voted for not caring as long as it's a good fight... And that's my overriding feeling on it - I want to see a good fight, and may the better man win.

I think it's probably better for the division for Parker to win - he's just turned 32 whilst Zhang is nearly 41. Parkers still at a good age, whilst Zhang is already well past his prime...
Realistically, Parker probably has 6-9 years left, whilst Zhang would be lucky to have 2.

In terms of doing anything significant in the division, Parker will still be around when the likes of Fury, Usyk and maybe even Joshua have exit the stage - which means he's got the potential for title fights... Zhang on the other hand could very easily not be around long enough.

In that sense, I guess I do have a slight preference for Parker... But only because it took Zhang far too long to step up and start proving himself (remember, he hadn't beaten a top-200 fighter before he beat Joyce).

 

I am very interested in this fight and really like both guys. Both deserve their chance in the spotlight.

Like all boxing matches, I am just hoping for a fair decision if it goes to the cards.

 

Big fun fight, I want Zhang to win because he's a dangerous fun to watch dude and needs a shot at the title at least once

 

Like many others here, I really like both fighters.

So it's six of one, and half a dozen of the other for me, as far as rooting goes.

I've also got it as a genuine 50-50 fight too. I can see a way for either bloke to win.

Both are coming off of good previous wins too, with both giving a good performance in their last two fights

Both will have good confidence as a result.


I'm expecting a good scrap.

 

We're in for a good time.

 

Why does he deserve a title shot? It’s his own fault he ****d around for ten years before fighting a contender. Now he is 40 and only probably has a couple more fights left in him, doesn’t mean he should get a shot out of pity.

 

Better than AJ/Ngannou winner getting a shot, no?

 

Yeah as long as Parker is also seen as deserving of a shot if he beats zang.

 

I like both, so option 3.

 

I've voted Parker. I just think he's a better win for boxing attheir respective ages. I also think we're about to see the best of Parjer over the next 3 or 4 years.
I hear there's a one way rematch clause, that being if Patker wins Zhang gets a rematch but not the other way around.

 

No rematch. The division is slow enough as it is.

 

Does he, though?

He didn't fight his first opponent inside the top 200 until the age of 39.
And lost.
Okay, close fight, but still a loss on paper.

His only top-200 wins are his two wins over Joyce.

Or in other words, he's only fought two remotely serious fighters and only beat one of them...
That's not someone who "needs" to be getting title shots, that's someone who needs to prove themselves more - except he's too old to have the time to do it. Entirely his own fault for leaving it so late to step up.

 

Zhang.

 

Rooting for Parker, was becoming a fan until he tapered off around the time of the AJ fight. I'm still not sure what happened but we expected more of him and he seemingly faded into the background for a stretch.

 

Exactly bro. Same goes with hrgovic, if he had been mixing it up with decent fighters instead of de mori, he might have an argument for a shot.
Say what you want about Parker, but you can’t say he doesn’t go looking for big fights.