Joseph Parker vs. Derek Chisora II

Joseph Parker vs. Derek Chisora II was a professional boxing match contested on 18 December 2021.

Joseph Parker vs. Derek Chisora II

Date	18 December 2021
Venue	Manchester Arena, Manchester, UK
Title(s) on the line	WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Joseph Parker Derek Chisora Nickname "Lupesoliai La'auliolemalietoa" "War" Hometown South Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand Finchley, London, UK Pre-fight record 29–2 (21 KOs) 32–11 (23 KOs) Age 29 years, 11 months 37 years, 11 months Height 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) Weight 251 lb (114 kg) 248+1⁄2 lb (113 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition WBO No. 2 Ranked Heavyweight IBF No. 3 Ranked Heavyweight WBC No. 4 Ranked Heavyweight WBA No. 13 Ranked Heavyweight The Ring No. 5 Ranked Heavyweight TBRB No. 8 Ranked Heavyweight WBC No. 12 Ranked Heavyweight
Result
Parker defeated Chisora via Unanimous Decision

Background

Following the somewhat controversial split decision victory in their first in May, both Joseph Parker and Derek Chisora expressed interest in an immediate rematch. On 16 September 2021, it was announced that a rematch on 18 December, again at the Manchester Arena.

Speaking to BBC Sport in the build up Parker would suggest that he might retire if he lost the rematch, saying "I just want to beat him properly this time. If I can't beat Derek then I have to really look at myself and where I go from there."

The fight

Parker would largely dominate the bout, landing many overhand rights and uppercuts that hurt Chisora. A big right uppercut from Parker had Chisora wobbling into the ropes, which the referee Howard Foster ruled a knockdown as the ropes had kept him up. Another uppercut sent Chisora down in the seventh and again in the eight. Chisora was again in trouble in the ninth, it appeared at one point that the referee was on the verge of stepping in and waving it off, but Chisora was able to the survive the round. Chisora appeared to be the fresher in the last two rounds but he was ever able to hurt Parker. The bout went the full 12 rounds and the judges all scored the bout for Parker with scores of 115–110, 115–111 and 114–112 giving him an unanimous decision victory.

According to CompuBox, Parker landed 144 punches with 31% accuracy, against Chisora's 122 punches with 26% accuracy.

Aftermath

Speaking in the ring after result, Parker said that "Derek always comes for war, he was one tough guy and never stopped coming forward until the end, we practised and practised that uppercut. What a Christmas present. I felt a lot stronger. It was important to start strong and not be negative from the beginning. You can see there are improvements to be made. Derek Chisora is a credit to the sport of boxing." Promoter Eddie Hearn, speaking to DAZN, said: "Derek Chisora is not human. How that went 12 rounds I'll never know. There was zero quit in him. Both those guys deserve a huge amount of credit."

Attention was drawn to the scorecards which were widely perceived to be overly generous to Chisora: reporters Mike Coppinger opined that "the judges were trying to rob" Parker, while Chris Mannix stated, "These are criminally, criminally, bad scorecards."

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:

Winner	Loser	Weight division/title belt(s) disputed	Result
Kevin Lele Sadjo	Jack Cullen	vacant European Super middleweight title	6th round TKO
Zelfa Barrett	Bruno Tarimo	IBF Super featherweight eliminator	Unanimous decision
Lerrone Richards	Carlos Gongora	IBO world super middleweight title	Split decision
Alen Babić	David Spilmont	Heavyweight (8 rounds)	6th round KO
David Nyika	Anthony Carpin	Cruiserweight (4 rounds)	1st round RTD
Preliminary bouts
Sandy Ryan	Maria Capriolo	Super lightweight (8 rounds)	3rd round TKO
Jordan Thompson	Piotr Budziszewski	Cruiserweight (6 rounds)	1st round TKO
Rhiannon Dixon	Vaida Masiokaite	Lightweight (6 rounds)	Points decision