Zach Parker exclusive: I can make a big statement here

Zach Parker is back to full fitness and determined to stamp his authority on the super middleweight division.

The 29-year-old goes into his fight with Tyron Zeuge on Saturday night with two aims. Firstly, he wants to put on a show and make an example of the respected German. Secondly, he knows that he needs to make himself impossible to ignore. For all the latest fight odds, visit our sportsbook.

“He’s a former world champion and he’s only lost once against Rocky Fielding. I can make a big statement here and put myself back in the mix with the big boys,” Parker told 32Red. “It’ll be a good name to get on my resume and hopefully I can make a big knockout statement. I’m really looking forward to it.”

“I’m definitely coming into my prime”

Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is still the undisputed super middleweight champion and the 168lb division remains the land of opportunity.

A fighter who can earn themselves a position as a mandatory challenger will eventually be granted a lucrative payday and a shot at the biggest name in the sport. If ‘Canelo’ decides to give up any of his belts, they will be in prime position to contest a vacant title. There are also plenty of all known, attractive names in and around the top ten and Parker believes that he couldn’t couldn’t be in a better place physically or mentally to take them on.

“I feel like I’m just coming into my prime,” he said. “I’m training a lot better and even making weight better. As you get older its supposed to be harder to make weight but I’m making it easier and looking good at the weight too. I’m cutting no corners. I just believe my discipline is coming into play as I get older. Having a family to look after makes it more important too. I’m definitely coming into my prime and getting stronger every year. I’m 30 this year and honestly feel like I’m getting stronger every year.”

When a fighter reaches Parker’s level, they tend to learn that although it pays to be aware of the dangers a potential opponent may pose, there is little to be gained from agonising and worrying about them. Instead they focus purely on their own training and ways they can exploit the other fighters’ weaknesses. Zeuge may be a former world champion but Parker is solely concerned with doing his own job properly. If he does that, he is confident that everything else should fall into place.

“Yeah, that’s how I go into most fights. I never worry about what they’re gonna do because if I perform how I’m supposed to, they aren’t going to live with me,” Parker said before revealing that the German has forced him to alter his training in one sense.

“It might be quite a fiery fight week”

“What he has been doing though is giving me a bit on instagram. I like it. He’s been tagging me in things saying that he’s coming for me. That’s probably the worst thing he could have done. It’s good when an opponent is giving you a bit online. It fires me up.”

Parker isn’t the type to fire back insults or get involved in long drawn out arguments online but he does recognise the value of a bit of pre-fight needle.

“I tweeted him back and said to make sure he keeps that energy on March 16th. A lot of people say things online but lose it when they see me in person. It’s making for a good fight.”

“The more eyes on the fight the better. I feel like it might be quite a fiery fight week given the way he’s talking online. I love it. It fires me up and makes me put a little bit more into it. He’s coming to take my spot now. He lost his world title and he’s been inactive. He wants to get back up there with the big boys like I do.”

If Zeuge does carry his online energy into fight week, it will be nothing Parker hasn’t seen before. In 2020 he boxed Australian Rohan Murdock for the chance to climb to number one in the WBO world rankings. The confident Australian talked the talk before the fight but also carried that same attitude into the ring. Parker capitalised on the Australian’s aggression and put in one of his best performances to stop Murdock in the eleventh round.

“I want the big fights”

“When it came up to the weigh in day he was giving it. I told him to make sure he was ready and to be the same tomorrow. When we were fighting he was giving it me. He was tapping his gloves together and telling me to come on. I love all that. He was number one in the world and I was number two and I took his spot. That’s what you want in fights. You want a bit of needle and back and forth.”

If Parker does prove his credentials this weekend he will begin hunting one of the division’s big fish. Over the past few months he has been linked to fighters like WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, Anthony Yarde, Diego Pacheco and WBA super middleweight champion David Morrell. Eventually, the talking will stop and he will get one of them in the ring.

“I want to be in there with the big names and I want world titles. Boxing is a job to me and I need to get paid right and as long as the offer is right, I’m 100% in.

“I want the big fights and with my team of Frank [Warren], Neil [Marsh, his manager] and Black Country Boxing, I’m with the perfect team to get them done.”

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