Joseph Parker floored twice by Zhilei Zhang, but recovers to become WBO mandatory for Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk winner
Zhilei Zhang dropped Joseph Parker twice but was beaten on points by his heavyweight rival on Friday night in Saudi Arabia.
Heavyweight pair Zhang and Parker came head-to-head as the chief support to Anthony Joshua's fight with Francis Ngannou, as they looked to keep their names in the world title mix.
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Parker went into the contest on the back of an extremely impressive win over Deontay Wilder and began the fight looking to derail the dominant run of 41-year-old Zhang.
And it was the New Zealand native who took a majority decision on the scorecards, with the judges scoring 113-113, 113-112, 115-111 in his favour.
Zhang started to open up early on landing some crisp shots in the second round, but it came back at him with Parker refusing to give away any ground.
The breakthrough came in the third round with Zhang landing a thumping left hand flush on the chin, which sent the New Zealander crashing to the canvas.
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Parker survived the count and managed to hear the bell at the end of the round, but blood trickled from his nose as he left the corner for the fourth period.
The former world-title challenger responded well in the fourth and fifth periods, weathering the storm which had come in abundance from Zhang.
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'Big Bang' was clearly tiring after a thrilling first half of the encounter, but the next breakthrough came in the eighth with Parker again touching the canvas after being chopped by a short right hook.
Parker once again recovered, as the fight reduced to a more laboured pace with fatigue creeping in for both fighters in the latter stages.
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The razor-close spectacle went to the judges scorecards, which saw Parker's hand raised in a sensational victory.
He claimed Zhang's WBO 'interim' belt and so is now WBO mandatory challenger for Oleksandr Usyk's WBA, IBF & WBO heavyweight world titles.
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Zhang was more than graceful in defeat, as he later took to social media to post a picture of the pair together.
He wrote: "Congratulations to @joeboxerparker you are the better man tonight. It’s a pleasure sharing the ring with you.
"We have to see each other again but I’m happy we both came out of the ring healthy. Thank you Saudi Arabia."
Parker meanwhile will now be hoping that he can challenge for the world titles this year, but it could be challenging given all four belts are tied up between Tyson Fury and Usyk.
Anthony Joshua & Francis Ngannou share final face off as they weigh-in for their huge heavyweight bout in Riyadh
The IBF mandatory defence is set to next be called, with Filip Hrgovic next in line according to the rules, but Fury and Usyk are expected to rematch first as part of a two-fight deal.
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