Joseph Parker will return to the ring in January as he plots his comeback from his first knockout loss of his career. Parker will square off against British cruiserweight Jack “One Smack” Massey in Manchester on January 22 on the undercard for the middleweight matchup between Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith.
Parker (30-3, 21 KO) is coming off a brutal knockout loss to Joe Joyce in September, though he figures to have a much better outlook here. Massey (20-1, 13 KO) is a career cruiserweight who’s never weighed in above 205 and fell to Riakporhe in his biggest fight to date.
I don’t shy away from a challenge. Stepping up to fight a top 10 ranked heavyweight,” the Manchester native said on Twitter following the fight announcement.
Joseph Parker vs Jack Massey Preview
Parker, 30, will go back to Manchester Arena where he suffered the 1/3 defeat of his profession in September, a eleventh round knockout loss to Joe Joyce for the intervening time WBO heavyweight identify that dropped his record to 30-3.
The Kiwi former WBO heavyweight champ, who’s nevertheless ranked within the pinnacle 10 via the WBC and WBO, might be the favourite as the bigger man and can’t afford every other loss as he hopes to get his international identify ambitions back on target.
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This will be the first fight for former WBO heavyweight champion Parker, 30, since he was stopped in the eleventh round by the unbeaten Joe Joyce last September.
Parker took a beating by the 2016 Olympic silver medalist Joyce, so it’s not all that surprising that he’s opting for a lesser foe after what he went through in that contest.
Being matched against Massey gives Parker a good chance of winning and looking impressive. It’s important that Parker shine in this fight because his career has stalled out since losing his WBO title to Anthony Joshua in 2018.
Not only was Parker beaten in that fight, but he also lost his next match against Dillian Whyte the same year by fighting passively until the twelfth round.
It was a winnable fight for Parker if he’d fought with some aggressiveness, but he waited until the 12th round before he showed a sense of urgency and couldn’t pull it off.
After that defeat, Parker burned through the next four years of his career, fighting exclusively tune-up level opposition, like journeyman Derek Chisora x 2, Alex Lepai, Alexander Flores, Shawndell Winters, and Junior Fa.
Parker weighed in at a career-high a hundred and 55.84kg for his combat against Joyce, even as Massey is used to preventing at a 90.7kg limit. British promoter Ben Shalom said Parker is seeking to bounce back after his “fight of the year contender” towards Joyce.
“Local lad Jack Massey has been begging me for this fight towards Joseph Parker. He has were given huge help in Manchester and now he’ll be preventing one of the biggest names in boxing,” the Boxxer CEO and founder stated as he announced the combat.
Fight announcement 📣
I don’t shy away from a challenge
Stepping up to fight a top 10 ranked heavyweight 💪🏼#Unleashed | 21.01.23 | AO Arena | @boxxer @benjshalom @skysportsboxing @wassermanboxing pic.twitter.com/3f5sytxJEj— Jack Massey (@jackmassey123) December 21, 2022
Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Smith Undercard
- Chris Eubank Jr vs Liam Smith
- Richard Riakporhe vs Krzysztof Glowacki
- Joseph Parker vs Jack Massey
“Joseph Parker is coming again after his fight of the year contender with Joe Joyce and will need to expose precisely what he’s all about. It might be very exciting to see how Parker reacts against a fatherland favourite.”
The 29-year-vintage Massey has won his last 4 fights since losing to Richard Riakporhe by using a 12 spherical unanimous decision in 2019. For Massey to be preventing Parker, he’s were given to accept as true with that there’s weak spot there.
Joseph Parker vs Jack Massey can be taking area at the undercard of the middleweight clash between Chris Eubank Jr and Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith. Another interesting combat on the card is unbeaten cruiserweight fringe contender Richard Riakporhe (15-zero, eleven KOs) struggling with former WBO champion Krzysztof Głowacki (32-3, 20 KOs).