ZACH PARKER: JOSHUA BUATSI FIGHT HAS PUT A FIRE IN MY BELLY
MANCHESTER, England - Zach Parker has been a permanent fixture in the higher reaches of the super middle and light heavyweight rankings for years, but the 31-year-old from Derby has never been able to nail down the big name opponent or score the type of eye-catching win that would have secured him a world title shot.
On November 1, Parker (26-1, 18 KOs) finally gets his chance,
He will fight Joshua Buatsi (19-1, 13 KOs) in a 12-round light heavyweight fight. DAZN will broadcast the action from Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena.
Back in November 2022, Parker found himself one win away from a mandatory WBO title shot at unified super middleweight champion, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.
A badly broken right hand bought a disappointingly premature end to his WBO interim title fight with John Ryder and he had to sit at home and watch the tough Londoner fight “Canelo” six months later.
Since then, Parker has trod water.
In February, he signed to to take on The Ring's No. 10 ranked light heavyweight, WIlly Hutchinson, in his 175-pound debut. Just days before the fight, the Scotsman withdrew after dislocating his shoulder. Parker stayed on the show but received little credit for beating dangerous but unknown late substitute, Mickael Diallo. Parker outpointed the heavy handed Frenchman over 10 rounds.
That was his fourth consecutive win since the loss to Ryder but none have cut through with the public like the match-up with Buatsi will.
Finally, Parker has a fight to get his teeth into.
“I've been waiting for a massive name and, obviously, it doesn't get much bigger,” he told The Ring.
“I’m ranked No. 4 [with the WBO] and Callum Smith's just ranked above so the winner's in a really good position. I've been waiting for a shot like this and I'm going to take it with both hands.”
Two weeks after Parker suffered the disappointment of missing out on the fight with Hutchinson, Buatsi lost his WBO interim light heavyweight title to former super middleweight champion, Callum Smith.
The twelve brutal rounds Buatsi and Smith shared will ensure that they find themselves in the running for every ‘Fight of the Year’ award imaginable but they will be scant reward compared to the disappointment of losing his undefeated record when a long awaited world title fight was within touching distance.
A couple of weeks after the fight, Buatsi’s deal with Boxxer expired and he signed a promotional deal with Queensberry.
Parker has been a Queensberry fighter since 2021 and he is determined that Buatsi won’t march in and take his scalp in his first fight under their promotional banner.
“I've watched the clips of it,” he said of Buatsi’s fight with Smith.
“I’m going to watch it back properly in the next week or so. It was a hard-fought fight from what I've seen. It was non-stop.
“I think Callum made it hard for himself because he likes to fight inside but I saw how he [Buatsi] got rocked a couple of times by Callum. It looked like it was a good fight.
“Different styles make different fights. You can only judge yourself after the last fight and, obviously, he come up short but Queensberry must be thinking something of him if they're putting him with me. I’m there to show them all that they’re wrong.”
Parker is a quietly spoken character who prefers to stay out of the spotlight and rarely - if ever - gives away his true feelings on potential opponents or upcoming fights.
Seeing his face at the top of the official fight poster seems to have ignited something inside him.
In his own, understated way there is a different tone to Parker’s words. He knows that people are more familiar with Buatsi and he is aware that most fans will expect him to lose the fight.
Rather than allowing those thoughts to affect him negatively, he has leaned into them and adopted a siege mentality.
“Oh yeah, it's put a fire in my belly,” he said.
“I like it that people are not with me. I'm not the favourite. I like it being on the other side. It makes me work harder every single day and I love proving people wrong.
“I've done it all through my career. Coming from the small hall shows and knowing the big promoters were all about Team GB but I've come up the hard way.
“I'm here to prove a point. I'm going to put myself on the world stage.”
