Can Zach Parker shake off 'quitter' jibes to stun Joshua Buatsi?

Zach Parker will take on Joshua Buatsi this evening for the WBO international light heavyweight title and the opportunity to be entered into conversations surrounding a world title. 

The Derbyshire native was once a bright star on the British super middleweight scene and touted to go on to world title honours, carrying serious power and high-level technical ability. 

But such is the career of so many professional boxers, Parker found himself faced with adversity just as he was on the cusp of a world title shot when he lost to John Ryder in 2022, with many discarding the Brit, calling him a ‘quitter’. 

But he has toiled behind the scenes and clawed his way back to the brink of world title contention, and all that remains is for him to prove himself against one of the brightest stars in the division in Buatsi.

This is the perfect opportunity for Parker to shake off old labels and create new ones – forging his own destiny to spite those who may have written him off. 

Where was Parker before the Ryder fight?

Parker made a fast start as a professional. Following his debut in 2015, he raced to 22-0, knocking out all but six of his opponents and was heralded as the next big star of the super middleweight division. 

He claimed the esteemed British super middleweight title, held by so many legends before him, in 2018 by beating Darryl Williams. 

It was all eyes on a world title next as he claimed the vacant WBO international super middleweight title in 2020 by beating Rohan Murdock. 

Parker successfully defended this belt three times, including a breakout knockout win over Marcus Morrison, who had never previously been stopped and had taken Chris Eubank Jr the distance in his previous fight. 

Following this, his promoter Frank Warren made a bold statement by backing his fighter against the undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez.

Warren wrote on the Queenberry Promotions website: "I don’t think there’s a promoter on this earth who would say with complete confidence their man could beat Alvarez on his current form, but Zach Parker has time on his side and will be ready and waiting should the chance arise."

All Parker had left to do was win his next fight, and he was in with a chance to have a shot at all the marbles. 

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

What happened in the Ryder fight? 

The fight with Ryder was for the WBO interim super middleweight title and was tipped to be one of the best domestic showdowns of the year. 

It got off to a blistering start, and Parker was displaying elite-level movement and punch variation to give Ryder some serious problems in the early goings. 

But at some point, in the third or fourth round, Parker injured his left hand in hitting Ryder and fought through the pain initially. But at the beginning of the fifth round, a downtrodden Parker walked over to Ryder and the referee and said he could not continue the fight – handing him his first loss as a professional. 

At the time of the stoppage, one judge had the scores level, but the other two had Parker 3-1 up, and Parker felt he was just getting going.

“I’m absolutely gutted,” Parker said immediately after the fight. “I will come back stronger. I was warming into it, but with the injury, every time I jabbed it was hurting and clicking.” 

Parker revealed shortly after the fight that scans revealed he had a very serious fracture in his hand and that the doctor said if he had fought on, he could have done serious long-term damage that may have stunted the rest of his career or stopped it completely. 

Ryder would go on to take what Parker would have seen as his shot at Canelo. The Derbyshire man was forced to have surgery and sit out for almost a year. 

The backlash 

Following the retirement, there was an immense amount of mostly negative reaction to the fact that he did not continue boxing on with one hand. 

Fans angrily labelled Parker a ‘quitter’, suggesting when he saw a chance to pull out, he took it because Ryder was turning up the heat and would have beaten him down the stretch. 

Parker mostly shrugged off the hate online, but posted a letter to the fans via Boxing News four days after the fight, explaining his feelings on the night.

"People have said I should have fought on,” Parker wrote. “At this top level, you cannot fight someone as good as John with one hand. You need to be able to jab him off and use both hands. Over the past few days, I’ve got to know more about myself, more about boxing, and it’s been a learning thing for me. I will come back stronger.

“You will always get stick on social media, and that happened to me over the weekend. I laugh at it. It affects my manager, Neil Marsh, more than it does me.

“This is an opportunity for me to give fans and people in the trade the facts. You can say stuff about me, yet I could have lost my whole career that night. I’ve still got a lot to give in boxing.”

How has he recovered? 

After taking almost a year out of the ring to reevaluate and rehabilitate, Parker decided to make the move to light heavyweight as a means by which to protect his body from further injuries and to avoid stressful weight cuts. 

In his first fight back, he made Khalid Graidia retire in the seventh round to get rid of his ring rust.

His next fight was not an easy one, facing former WBA secondary titlist Tyron Zeuge, who had only previously been beaten by Rocky Fielding. 

Parker put on a boxing masterclass to comfortably outpoint the German and announce himself on the light heavyweight scene. 

After a statement knockout win over Jack Arnfield last year, his first since the Ryder fight, it was clear Parker had his confidence back and he almost took on one of his biggest challenges when he was scheduled to fight Willy Hutchinson on the undercard of Derek Chisora vs Otto Wallin in February. 

But Hutchinson pulled out through injury, and Parker fought Mickael Diallo instead, claiming a comfortable unanimous decision victory to complete a successful rebuild. 

Queensberry Promotions

How can he silence the doubters against Buatsi?

There is no doubt that Parker is an incredibly talented and powerful fighter, but the questions around his ability to fight through adversity are yet to be answered. 

In fighting Buatsi, there is a feeling that those questions will be posed tonight. 

Buatsi is a proven dangerous fighter across the full distance and has been in the world title conversation for some time now. His fight of the year contender with Callum Smith earlier this year has proven that Buasti can dig deep and turn the tide of a fight through pure grit and determination. 

If Parker hopes to announce himself on the fringes of the world title conversation at 175lbs, he will be required to go to a place some people think he has avoided so far in his career. 

Buatsi has had his say on Parker’s loss to Ryder and called him a ‘quitter’. Parker must use this as motivation to put on a career-best performance, ruin the party for the favourite and prove he can still fulfil the potential so many saw early in his career. 

Watch Buatsi vs. Parker live on DAZN

Joshua Buatsi vs. Zach Parker is live on DAZN tonight, November 1. Watch the fight and whole card with a DAZN subscription.

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