PARKS AND WRECK
Joseph Parker seals points win in Derek Chisora grudge match as brave Brit somehow lasts distance after three knockdowns
JOSEPH PARKER settled his Derek Chisora rivalry with a dominant points win but only after the brilliant British veteran displayed superhuman feats of courage.
The 37-year-old nicknamed War climbed off the canvas once and received two more standing counts after ducking into a hat-trick of sickening uppercuts.
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But the proud warrior slashed and slugged his way to the final bell before Parker was awarded a far more convincing decision than their original May meeting, the judges scoring the rematch: 115-110, 115-111 and 114-112.
A looping right hand floored Parker early in the opening round of their first clash, walloping Parker on the back of his head.
So the 29-year-old knew he had to be tuned in from the very opening second to stop a similarly slow and painful start.
Chisora made a great start in that narrow points loss and was expected to empty the tank early again, with a view of taking the result away from the judges’ scorecards following a string of bitter disappointments throughout his rollercoaster career.
But it was the Kiwi who made the more aggressive start, taking the centre of the ring and throwing a range of shots that Chisora caught and deflected.
But a right hook from Parker smashed into Chisora’s unguarded jaw and seemed to stun him, with a minute of the opener still to run.
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Chisora roared into the second with his first serious assault and he followed that up with a looped right hand that grazed Parker’s chin.
Parker then landed a couple of rasping uppercuts but Chisora’s famously granite whiskers absorbed them almost gratefully.
But the follow-up barrage damaged Chisora badly with big right straights and left hooks crunching into the banger who seemed to be flagging earlier than usual.
Chisora was stunned in the third by a pinpoint left-hook-right-hand piledriver and defied gravity to remain upright, the iron-skulled slugger showed super-human resilience to survive.
Parker looked to be playing into Chisora’s hands in the fourth, when he was trading up close, but then he detonated a sensational uppercut that savaged Chisora’s senses.
Only the ropes held Chisora up but referee Howard Foster dived in to start a count that reached eight.
In a moment of cool-headed genius, Chisora retreated to a corner and lured Parker in where he did not have the room to secure a finish, instead it was the Finchley warrior who ended the stanza hurling leather.
But just as Chisora was enjoying a string of scoring jabs he sunk into another thudding uppercut and was folded into the canvas for another eight count.
Chisora incredibly rose and rallied again and unfathomably ended the round battering Parker in a show of courage that had Manchester mystified.
Both behemoths were blowing hard by the eighth but with 30 seconds left Chisora dipped into a third massive uppercut and collapsed backwards into the ropes for a second standing count.
It looked desperate for Chisora in the ninth, with referee Howard Foster teetering on the edge of the exchanges and ready to dive in. But Chisora went back to the well and threw haymakers to stay in the contest.
But Chisora was almost floored by his own punch moments later when he missed so wildly, and with such desperation that he stumbled into the ropes again.
And former WBO world champion Parker and evergreen warhorse Del Boy made it to the final bell where they got a deserved ovation.
After the fight, Parker said: “He was one tough guy!
“He never stopped coming but we had practised the jab and uppercut so now we have a great Christmas.
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"Derek is a credit to the sport of boxing, the crowd went crazy for him."
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“I started strong and was never negative from the beginning.
“I rushed it a couple of times, got too excited but I am ready to do a lot more practice for my next camp."
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