Who won Zhang vs Parker?
Joseph Parker beat Zhilei Zhang by majority decision in their 12 round contest on Friday 8th March 2024 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
The scorecards were announced as 113-113, 112-114, 111-115 in favor of winner Joseph Parker.
The fight was scheduled to take place over 12 rounds in the Heavyweight division, which meant there was no weight limit.
This contest was for the WBO heavyweight championship of the world.
This fight appeared on the undercard of Anthony Joshua beating Francis Ngannou. Also, on the undercard Rey Vargas beat Nick Ball for the WBC World Featherweight belt, Israil Madrimov defeated Magomed Kurbanov for the WBA World Super Welterweight title, Mark Chamberlain was victorious over Gavin Gwynne, Justis Huni beat Kevin Lerena, Jack McGann was overcome by Louis Greene, Ziyad Almaayouf was victorious over Christian Lopez Flores, Andrii Novytskyi beat Juan Torres and Roman Fury defeated Martin Svarc.
Zhang vs Parker stats
Zhilei Zhang stepped into the ring with a record of 26 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw, 21 of those wins coming by the way of knock out.
Joseph Parker made his way to the ring with a record of 34 wins, 3 loses and 0 draws, with 23 of those wins by knock out.
The stats suggested Zhang had advantage in power over Parker, with a 81% knock out percentage over Parker's 68%.
Zhilei Zhang was the older man by 8 years, at 40 years old.
Zhang had a height advantage of 2 inches over Parker. That also extended to a 2-inch reach advantage.
Zhilei Zhang fought out of the southpaw stance, while Joseph Parker was an orthodox fighter.
Zhang was the less experienced professional fighter, having had 9 less fights, and made his debut in 2014, 2 year and 1 month later than Parker, whose first professional fight was in 2012. He had fought 145 less professional rounds, 105 to Parker's 250.
Joseph Parker was ranked number 3 by the WBA, 3 by the WBC and 2 by the WBO in the 201lb division.
Zhang vs Parker form
Zhilei Zhang had stopped 4 of his last 5 opponents.
In his last fight leading up to this contest, he had beat Joe Joyce on 23rd September 2023 by knockout in the 3rd round in their WBO Interim World Heavyweight championship fight at OVO Arena Wembley, London, United Kingdom.
Previous to that, he had beat Joe Joyce on 15th April 2023 by technical knockout in the 6th round in their WBO Interim World Heavyweight championship fight at Copper Box Arena, London.
Going into that contest, he had been beaten by Filip Hrgovic on 20th August 2022 by unanimous decision in their 12 round contest at Jeddah Superdome, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Before that, he had won against Scott Alexander on 7th May 2022 by knockout in the 1st round at T-Mobile Arena, Nevada, United States.
He had beat Craig Lewis on 27th November 2021 by technical knockout in the 2nd round at Madison Square Garden Theater, New York.
Parker had beaten 4 of his last 5 opponents, stopping 2 of them, going the distance twice.
In his last fight before this contest, he had defeated Deontay Wilder on 23rd December 2023 by unanimous decision in their 12 round contest at Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Previous to that, he had defeated Simon Kean on 28th October 2023 by knockout in the 3rd round at Riyadh.
Going into that contest, he had won against Faiga Opelu on 24th May 2023 by technical knockout in the 1st round at Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, Australia.
Before that, he had defeated Jack Massey on 21st January 2023 by unanimous decision in their 10 round contest at Manchester Arena, Manchester, United Kingdom.
He had lost to Joe Joyce on 24th September 2022 by knockout in the 11th round in their WBO Interim World Heavyweight championship fight at AO Arena, Manchester.
Activity check
In terms of activity leading into the fight, Joseph Parker had been fighting more than Zhilei Zhang.
Going to this contest, Zhilei Zhang had last fought 5 months and 14 days ago, while Joseph Parker's last outing had been 2 months and 14 days ago.
Zhang's last 5 fights had come over a period of 2 years, 3 months and 10 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 5 months and 15 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 24 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 4.8 rounds on average.
Parker's last 5 fights had come over a period of 1 year, 5 months and 13 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 3 months and 16 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 37 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 7.4 rounds on average.
What time did Zhang vs Parker start?
The fighters were expected to ringwalk at around 10:45 PM UTC at Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which was 5:45 PM EST or 2:45 PM PST on the West Coast of America, or 10:45 PM GMT in the UK.
Who broadcast Zhang vs Parker?
Zhang vs Parker was broadcast on DAZN PPV UK in the UK, while the fight was broadcast in the United States by DAZN PPV.
What were the odds on Zhang vs Parker?
Zhilei Zhang was a 17/10 (+170) underdog going into the contest, while Joseph Parker made his way into the ring at 8/11 (-140) with oddsmakers.
Parker is very smart and can ko to Zhang
As we saw in the Joyce fight, Parker can be stopped if enough hurtful punches land; Zhang has fast-hands, a southpaw and hits hard, I reckon he gets the TKO late.
Parker’s win over Wilder was great, but Zhang isn’t a shot fighter, even if he’s in his 40s.