Zach Parker is under no illusions about the size of the task facing him this weekend.
Parker is in the biggest fight of his life against Joshua Buatsi on Saturday in Manchester, UK, in a light heavyweight bout that has been described as a must-win for both.
Parker is 26-1 (18 KOs) but has spent most of his career at 168lbs. Although it’s a weight the Derby, UK, man insists he can still make, Parker has not made it since he badly broke his hand against John Ryder in 2022 and could not go on beyond the fourth round.
He has had four fights in the three years since, but he has maintained his conditioning.
“I try and stay in the gym all year round,” Parker told BoxingScene. “Obviously, I’ve been a bit inactive, but I’m looking forward to it as far as it’s a massive fight. It don’t get much bigger than this, really, headlining in Manchester and first time fighting on DAZN.
“I’ve been keeping myself busy – a bit of family life as well. But I’m looking forward to this fight.”
That family life includes getting married in 2024, looking after his daughter, Nova, and having another baby on the way.
But Parker’s mind is very much concentrated on Buatsi, whom he rates highly.
“He’s obviously been fighting at light heavyweight his whole career, so he’s well into the weight and he had a good fight that last fight, even though he lost,” Parker said, referring to Buatsi’s defeat against Callum Smith in a 12-round thriller in February. “I just feel like I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve. I’m looking forward to it. This is probably the first fight in my whole pro career that I’ve not had like no niggles or little aches or whatever. I’m going into it fully fit and ready to rock and roll on the first of November.”
Parker acknowledged that making 175lbs is “a lot easier.” He has even been trying to build into the weight, but he reckons he’s a fully fledged light heavyweight now.
“If there was massive fights at 12st, I could go down to that,” he said. “But, yeah, there ain’t nothing at 12st at the minute. Obviously, Canelo [Saul Alvarez] had all the belts and he just lost against [Terence] Crawford, but there’s a lot of opportunities at light heavy, and I was massive for the weight at super middle.
“There’s a lot of British lads at light heavy and obviously [Dmitry] Bivol and [Artur] Beterbiev, I don’t know if they’re going to fight again yet. But I feel like Bivol will fight anyone out there, and the likes of Canelo, I think he was just going step-by-step and wanting the biggest money he can make.”
Parker is in good company on the roster of light heavyweights at Queensberry Promotions. As well as Buatsi, there are, among others, Lyndon Arthur, Anthony Yarde, Liam Cameron and Bradley Rea.
“All the British light heavies, Frank [Warren]’s got them,” Parker continued. “There’s a lot of big fights, and I’m with the right promotion at the minute.”
Two notables elsewhere are Callum Smith, who is headed toward a fight with David Morrell Jnr in 2026, and new Matchroom signing Ben Whittaker.
Parker said Whittaker would have just signed with whoever offered him the most money – “like most of his boxers do, we want to get paid for what we're doing” – and he believes one of the reasons Buatsi has not won a world title is because in his 20-fight career he has been under the Queensberry, Boxxer and Matchroom banners.
“His career has been a bit stop-and-start,” Parker said. “He’s been with a few different promotions, and they ain’t been active. … I try and just focus on myself, really. I’m just zoned into what I’ve got to do. If I’ve got a big fight, I'm not really looking at anyone else until I may be fighting them and now I can study them.”
Parker has watched Buatsi’s fight with Smith and enjoyed it, but he said his style is far different from Smith’s, which will make for a different type of contest.
Parker knows, too, that he has a point to prove. The loss to Ryder was unavoidable, but he knows his failure to battle on with a hand that didn’t work was held against him, if not widely in the trade then certainly on social media.
“People can get injured in fights, and it was a really bad injury,” he said. “It broke and then obviously I had to have a recovery. … My daughter was born a couple of weeks before, so she kept me busy after it. I just had a little bit of family time, chilled out for a bit and then, obviously, I’ve come back and I’ve got all the wins, just all [the things] you’ve got to do after losses, just keep focused on yourself, really, don’t be thinking about what other people are thinking about you. A lot of these people on social media … I only use social media to put my boxing stuff on and then put my family on every now and again. I don’t really look at all the comments and whatnot like a lot of people do. It does get to people, doesn’t it? You hear about mental illnesses and stuff off it – social media.
“I don’t really look at social media unless I’m posting something. That’s what I’ve been like all my life, really. I’m like, ‘Mate, none of you have been in the ring and been in there. It’s a totally different story when you’re in there.’ And a lot of them may not even have been pushed out of their comfort zone, even in a training session. So, yeah, I don’t really look at it. It’s just all outside noise.”
When his hand broke, Parker could no longer make a fist and was later told he could have suffered nerve damage had he continued. Punching was not an option. He has fully recovered from the injury, but he also knew that against a southpaw like Ryder, the right hand would have been his best weapon, and then it was null and void.
Against Darryll Williams for the British title in 2018, Parker had to box after suffering a dislocated shoulder early in the fight. Many felt he was fortunate to take a controversial decision.
On Saturday against Buatsi, Parker has the opportunity to win over any lingering doubters, and he doesn’t think that pushing Buatsi hard in a close fight is enough to show he’s a world-class fighter.
“I need to beat him,” Parker concluded. “I’m not in boxing to come in to make the numbers up. I need to beat him. I want to do it in a good fashion, as well. Like I say, we’re probably the top two in Britain, just behind Callum Smith, who’s knocking at the door of these big titles.
“And I don’t want to just go in there and try and scrape through a win. I need to put on a show, and show people what I’m all about. I feel like people have not even seen 30 per cent of me. I need to go out and do it in good fashion.”
