Friday 8th March -
Zhilei Zhang v Joseph Parker
Looking forward to this one i have to say , and imho this bout has the potential to outshine the top of the bill fight between Joshua and Ngannou .. Joe Parker (37 Fights - 34 Wins (23 KOs) - 3 Losses) seems to be enjoying a second wind to his career with a winning streak of four since his stoppage loss to Joe Joyce , and in all honesty hes looked better than he did before the Joyce fight , the one thing ive always liked about Parker is the fact that he doesnt duck anyone , he'll fight all comers , something that seems to be sadly lacking of late in the heavyweight division .. his last fight was a one sided breakdown of Deontay Wilder and whilst it was an exemplary display by Parker it has to be said that Wilder just didnt look like the Wilder of old .. so maybe , just maybe , people are reading too much into that win , we'll see ... Zhang (28 Fights - 26 Wins (21 KOs) - 1 Loss - 1 Draw) was last seen knocking out the Juggernaut in the third round .. coming five months after his TKO of the same opponent .. and tbh he didnt even seem to break sweat in doing so especially in the second fight where he seemed to despatch him with ease (and Joyce looking like a startled rabbit in headlights) .. Hes only lost once in his career and that was to Filip Hgrovic and for me that was a travesty as i thought he won that fight (however i do think he narrowly lost the bout to Jerry Forrest which was scored a draw) , Parker has lost three times in his career .. Joe Joyce (handing him his first stoppage) , Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua and you cant argue about any of those. As i say he seems to have taken on a new lease of life since starting training with Andy Lee and if adopts the same strategy of sticking to the game plan i think he will do well here , he will almost certainly start well but its if he can keep the momentum going without any lapses and also if he take the power of Zhang , the fact that Zhang is a southpaw and awkward is obviously a potential spoiler , as is his size , strength and power .. watching the way he absolutely destroyed Joe Joyce makes me think that Parker is not going to be able to avoid him for twelve rounds , and then its down to , basically , can he take the power shots of Zhang and for me , the answer would be no. I see Parker starting off well and outboxing Zhang in the early rounds but i think Zhang , who can have a tendency to gas in the later rounds sometimes , will try and cut the ring off and excert his strength and power and if it comes down to the two slugging it out then i can only see one outcome , i see Parker going into the second half of the fight ahead on the score cards before Zhang starts dominating him and eventually stopping him , i'd say anytime after round 5 or 6. But there is a possibilty that Parker could take this as hes a shrewd fighter whose been there and done it , and whilst part of me would like to see him win the other half sees Zhangs arm raised at the end.
Zhilei Zhang To Win .. By Stoppage
Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou
To be honest i werent gonna do a write up for this one as im not particularly looking forward to it , and im fed up with all these crossover type fights .. and it doesnt sit right with me that a newcomer to boxing gets to fight the heavyweight champion of the world , and then AJ whose an ex HW champion of the world in his first two fights .. and then its been touted that should he win he could face the winner of Uysk/Fury for the belts .. that just dont sit right with me , what about all the poor sods who've gone down the long hard road and deserve a shot .. anyway rant over (for now lol) .. Ngannou (1 Fight - 1 Loss) comes into this one the back of the well viewed loss to Tyson Fury where i think the majority of the viewing public had him winning it .. whether he did or didnt is now redundant , the question now is , is he better than we thought or did Fury have a total mare ? ... imho i think its a case of both being true , think its obvious that Fury didnt train properly and came into the fight thinking it'd be a cake walk , but in reality it was far from with Ngannou obviously training hard for the event .. people forget he did box when he was younger so the fundamentals were there to work with and he's a fighter so it was no shock to me that he held his own (altho i honestly thought that Fury would put him away or at least win decisively on points) but i think Joshua (30 Fights - 27 Wins (24 KOs) - 3 Losses) wont be making the same mistakes as Fury and take his opponent lightly , he'll come into this fully prepped and eager to put on a solid display , he has to really if he wants to fight the winner of Uysk / Fury , anything other than a dominant display could seriously hurt his chances to that end i feel. Since his two losses to Uysk hes won three bouts with the last one being a one sided beatdown of Otto Wallin who he stopped in the fifth. Although hes won those last three , for me he still isnt showing the edge that he had back in his earlier days , pre the Ruiz loss , when he threw punches with intent , i think hes boxing slightly better (not 100% it could be that recent opponents have been a bit poor tbh) but until he starts to let his hands go i wont be convinced that hes the Joshua of old and thats what he needs to be if he has any hope of regaining a world title as far as im concerned. I think if Joshua can avoid Ngannous power early doors he can outbox him , and with his power theres always a chance of a stoppage if he spots an opening , but on the flip side Ngannou has looked good in the training clips ive seen of him , and he'll be coming into this full of confidence , sure of his abilities and i can see him going for an early KO as i honestly cant see him outboxing Joshua over twelve rounds .. in alot of ways its a proper 50/50 fight and im having a hard time trying to work out all the possible outcomes , probably cos im not that interested lol , but if i was pushed i would have to side with the boxer and say Joshua to win , probably by decision but i couldnt rule out a later round stoppage (or in fact that Ngannou clips him and puts him on the canvas come to that).
Anthony Joshua To Win
Rey Vargas v Nick Ball
Definatley looking forward to this one , Mexican Rey Vargas (37 Fights - 36 Wins (22 KOs) - 1 Loss) defends his WBC Featherweight title in a mandatory against the exciting up n coming British fighter Nick Ball (19 Fights - 19 Wins (11 KOs) on the undercard of the Joshua / Ngannou fight. Lets be honest Brits havent had a good time against Mexican fighters lately but i think this may change with this one because Vargas , good a fighter as he is , isnt renowned as a heavy puncher like alot of his compatriots and Ball is an all action , in yer face type of fighter whose a volume puncher. Vargas has been pretty in active lately with just two fights since November 2021 , the first of those was a split decision over Mark Magsayo which i felt could of gone the other way if im honest and the second was a unanimous decision loss to O'Shaquie Foster back in February of last year , that was the first loss on his resume and it'll be interesting to see how that could possibly affect his mind set coming into this fight. Ball however has been going from strength to strength and has been hailed as a potential world champion in many quarters , maybe a bit early to be saying that we shall find out , but he has all the attributes needed , he beat Issac Dogboe in March of this year by a wide margin unanimous decision , and that was a fight that many felt was coming to early in his career but he proved the doubters wrong , and then some. Vargas will definatley be the best opponent hes faced to date , and the most skilful , so its definatley not gonna be easy and hes gonna have to be at the top of his game , and as well as experience Vargas holds the cards with around an 8 inch height advantage and a longer reach , all these things are potential pitfalls for Ball , and taller fighters have proven to be difficult for Ball to negotiate in the past , but from what ive seen and read Ball is confident and up for the challenge and im hoping that he can bring that belt back to these shores. It surprised me to see that Ball is the favourite for this fight tbh all things considered , for me it all depends on Vargas .. hes getting older , has been in some wars and is coming off his first loss .. so im thinking will / has this affected him , if not then i see him boxing from range and probably taking the fight on points , if hes not the same Vargas of old then i see Ball breaking him down over time and possibly stopping him in the later rounds , although a decision win would be more my guess. Heart over head im gonna go for Nick Ball , got to really havent i ?!
Nick Ball To Win