Joseph Parker came in for his rematch with Derek Chisora weighing four and a half kilograms more than he had in their initial fight back in May. 113.9kg: the heaviest he’s ever been for a fight by a comfortable margin, topping his 111.9kg against Andy Ruiz in 2016. Chisora, meanwhile, dropped half a kilo as he went from 113.6kg to 112.9kg. So Parker was heavier for Fight Two than Chisora was for Fight One.

That’s a lot of extra weight to be carrying for twelve rounds of heavyweight boxing against an absolute slugger like Chisora. It’s also not an amount of weight that could be in any way accidental. You don’t just eat a few too many Mars Bars on the way to the weigh in and realise you’ve added four kilos. Especially in a division where you don’t have to make weight, so to speak. In those other classes there are tricks that guys and girls will use to try ensure they’re within the margins as they step onto the scales but that’s not a worry for a heavyweight. This was a deliberate plan. A ploy. A strategy.

And the first glimpse of something revolutionary from Parker’s new trainer Andy Lee. Something entirely different to what we’ve seen from him before. This was Parker after eight full weeks with Lee in training camp, not to mention all his homework since the first fight, not to mention having that baseline of that first fight to be able to pinpoint specific areas to work on. Derek Chisora’s worked with different trainers lately but he’s pretty much set in stone at this stage of his career, we know what he’s like and how he’s gonna fight. A couple weeks shy of his 38th birthday. Plus he’s kept a constant line before, during, and ever after the original meeting of complaining about how much of a victim he’s been which isn’t really the chat of a man looking towards his own deficiencies.

Meaning that while the first bout was close (though Parker was a deserving winner) there was way more scope for Parker to improve second time around and guess what? He did. That extra weight gave him that little bit more power as well as the confidence to throw more punches. He was knocked down after seven seconds last time but there was no hesitancy from the bell here. Immediately on the front foot and working combinations. Putting that trusty left jab to work but not merely for its own merits... he was setting up the big right uppercut which then did all sorts of damage against a man whose defences aren’t maybe on par with his power hitting.

Crucially though, he still had that trademark accuracy and hand speed. Especially once he got to that 3-4 round mark where he could see that the approach was working. Straight off the bat in round one he was trying to adjust his angles, crouching and swerving. And of course the extra bulk allowed him to be more assertive in the clinch and on the ropes. Pushing him around a bit more, as Parker said afterwards.

Watching it back, he didn’t really clinch the first round until the last 40 seconds or so. But then in the second they started slugging, trading blows, and by the end of that round Parker had found his upper cut. Last minute of the second he served up some genuine damage and then in the third it was time for the fast hands. The combinations. Chisora wasn’t necessarily copping any hurt but he wasn’t able to counter with those flying fists in his face. Pure defensive mode. Chisora did get on the charge late third which got the crowd going, something he fed off in the early stages of the fourth... but then he got dropped. Swinging right, pause, in with another high right and then a left hook to send him into the ropes.

There has been some criticism of Parker not putting Chisora away when he was on top, maybe not accelerating when he could have. But after the first knockdown he did seem to ramp it up only to bring Chisora back into the hunt with a few hurling counters. Remember that DC had the home town crowd. Any time he landed anything on Parker, or even showed that intent, the crowd would go nuts. Parker was well up on the cards already (or should have been, cheeky teaser for later) and the win counts the same whether he gets the stoppage or not. Later on how showed more deliberate restraint – although not as much as his trainer would have liked. Lee told him going into the twelfth to keep it steady for the first half of the round and let Chisora punch himself out desperately and then ten seconds later they were standing and swinging in the middle.

Also... Derek Chisora has a chin made of iron and the heart of an ox and finishing him early is not a common thing. Only three of his 12 defeats have come via knockout: Dillian Whyte dropped him, Tyson Fury forced a retirement, and David Haye got the TKO back in the day. Meanwhile he went the distance with Vitali Klitschko, Oleksandr Usyk, Joseph Parker twice, Tyson Fury the first time, Kubrat Pulev, etc.

Chisora found some steam and probably took the fifth round. Not as many punches going from both men there but Chisora landed the better ones and Parker never quite got his rhythm. There’s a case to say that DC took the sixth too in a very even round. Then Parker put the bro on the canvas in the seventh to reassert himself. Right hook to wobble him, right uppercut to drop him. Chisora on his knee and served the count for the second time in the bout.

Curiously, each time Chisora got dropped he went and positioned himself in the corner where he Parker had to come to him. Second time around was the best for JP, really loosing those hands again, but again Chisora was able to creep back forward and he landed one rocking right hand to the cheek of Parker in particular. Not enough to salvage the round – the knockdown meant it was a 9-9 round at best for him anyway – though it gave him some energy going into the eighth where he was in a good place... until he got knocked down again. This was the gentlest knockdown of the three. Parker got him with the right upper cut again and with DC wobbly on his feet he pretty much just shoved him into the ropes.

It was soft enough that maybe you could score that one 9-9, dunno. Just being generous here. But Parker knew he had it in the bag after the third docked point for his opponent so he was able to coast from there. Racking up points without taking excessive risks. Chisora’s successful punch counts trailed off drastically in the last few rounds as he fatigued to the point where he couldn’t throw a heavy shot without losing his balance. Parker did take an overhand to the nose early eleventh which had him under some pressure and ultimately cost him that round... but he showed some great flourishes in the last 90 seconds of the final round to underline his performance.

To be honest, the repeat viewing actually looked less impressive than the initial one for Parker. You can see a bit more of a case for how Chisora would have tallied up a few extra rounds. Live viewing I had it nine rounds to three. Second viewing probably more like seven to five but with the three knockdowns that’s still a more than comfortable win for Parker. Here are the CompuBox stats for the fight, keep in mind that there are differing degrees of landed punches too. Punches that merely land, and punches which truly LAND.

Yeah, the official scorecards were an absolute mess. Chisora had a right moan about getting stiffed by the judges last time, well they definitely leant generous towards him here. The British judge somehow only had it at a 2-point difference despite the three knockdowns – implying that Chisora won more rounds than Parker did, inexplicably. The other two were slightly more emphatic but not by too much. For the record, I mostly agree with the Italian judge’s 115-110 but from that benchmark I reckon it’s much easier to see that fight as a bigger skew than a smaller skew in Parker’s favour. David Higgins went so far as to tell the NZ Herald that it was “utter corruption”.

• Britain: 114-112

• German: 115-111

• Italian: 115-110

Cowboy Higgins: “The judge that had it 114-112... that's not mathematically possible. Joseph had three knockdowns. It's utter corruption. Good god, they were trying to rob us. The judging was appalling.”

But the right man won no matter silly the judges may have been. Covid meant that Parker’s camp weren’t able to get an Aotearoa representative on the bench, which they ultimately chose to accept and sign off on, but even if they had then the British anomaly card would still have been there. The important thing is that he emphasised his win with the trio of knockdowns so that nobody, not even Derek Chisora, could argue.

Plus the fight was exciting! There were punches flying and momentum shifts and all that. You don’t need a KO to boost your stocks. A fun win like that has already gotten Joseph Parker a long list of potential opponents. Eddie Hearn is talking up an IBF eliminator with Filip Hrgovic. Winner of that, should it come to pass, could lead to a title bout against the winner of the Usyk vs Joshua rematch... although a Tyson Fury unification bout would trump that. Hrgovic’s promoters have already come out in favour of the matchup.

Elsewhere a second go at Andy Ruiz Jr would be very tasty. Two well-matched fighters who’ve each been through a lot since that meeting. Deontay Wilder is probably one to dodge for the moment, likewise Luis Ortiz, but those are possibilities. Frank Sanchez as well. Joe Joyce was mentioned heaps prior to this fight. Parker’s ideal opponent would probably be Dillian Whyte with the chance to avenge his loss to the man but Whyte is desperate for the ordered WBC mandatory against Tyson Fury.

Point is that Parker has options now after a win like that. And what’s more is that Andy Lee reckons that there’s still 50% more to come from their partnership. We saw a bulked up Parker come out and be aggressive. We saw him fighting with focus and purpose. We saw him manage the ring. Throwing his combinations. Landing punches at a high rate. Getting knockdowns. We didn’t see him get a knock out but that’s never been Parker’s thing against the top tier of guys so don’t worry about that. This is why he changed trainers and that fresh point of view seems to be doing wonders for him. Suddenly, after a couple of murky years for JP since his loss to Dillian Whyte, things have gotten interesting again.

Chip in on our Patreon if you appreciate the articles and want to support our work

Also whack an ad, sign up to our Substack, and tell a mate about us

Keep cool but care