Zhang preparing to go the distance in heavyweight WBO interim title clash with ‘very dangerous’ Parker
- Zhang Zhilei says he holds psychological edge over Joseph Parker and is already thinking about what happens ‘when I beat him’
- Fighters will clash as co-main event of Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou card in Riyadh on March 8
Zhang Zhilei knows his next opponent Joseph Parker is “a very dangerous fighter”, but said the Kiwi knew the only way he could win their WBO interim title bout in Saudi Arabia was by going the distance.
The heavyweight pair will clash as the co-main event to Anthony Joshua’s fight with Francis Ngannou in Riyadh on March 8, and Zhang said he still held the psychological edge having beaten his New Zealand rival when they were amateurs.
That 2011 fight at the World Championships in Baku saw southpaw Zhang win on points, and he remembers taking on a young, raw Parker.
“Back then, because Parker was quite young, 19 or 20 years old, he wasn’t very experienced,” Zhang told the Post.
“Now, after so many years, he’s improving and won the WBO title [in 2016]. And his recent fights have been very good.”
Zhang is heading into the fight on the back of a career-defining 2023, in which he won the WBO interim heavyweight title in April, when he beat Briton Joe Joyce via a sixth-round stoppage.