Joseph Parker is back in the ring on Saturday, October 28 at Boulevard Hall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he faces Simon Kean. The bout, pitting former heavyweight world champion of New Zealand against Canadian knockout artist, is featured on the card headlined by Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou live on pay-per-view. The contest is scheduled for 10-rounds.
Parker (32-3, 22 KOs) makes his third ring appearance for 2023. In his previous outing in Melbourne in May, South Auckland native stopped Faiga Opelu in the first round. In January, Morecambe, England-based former WBO heavyweight champion scored a unanimous decision against Jack Massey. Going up against Kean, the 31-year-old is looking for his third win in a row.
“Even if I were fighting Tyson Fury, I don’t think there’s any more that we could have done in camp,” said Joseph Parker. “We’ve trained very hard for Simon Kean. And we respect him as a fighter. We know that he’s got a lot of knockouts, so we’ve done everything in our power to be as prepared as we can be for this challenge.”
“I’m going to follow the plan that Andy Lee says and punch his face.”
Kean (23-1, 22 KOs) goes through the ropes for the second time this year and eyes his ninth straight victory. The 34-year-old of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec won his previous bout in March in Montreal by TKO in the seventh round against Eric Molina.
“This is a big challenge for me,” Simon Kean said. “This week, Joseph said he wants to knock me out. Of course he wants to knock me out, and I want to knock him out, too. That’s boxing. I know I have a big challenge and that I will need a great performance to get the win, but I had a really great training camp and I’m ready to shock the world.”
In the main event, British WBC and lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury faces Cameroonian-French former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in a 10-round boxing match. In the co-main event, Fabio Wardley and David Adeleye go head-to-head in a 12-round all-British showdown.
Fury vs Ngannou airs live on ESPN+ PPV in the United States, TNT Sports Box Office in the UK and DAZN in other selected markets.
In Australia, the event airs on Sunday, October 29 live on DAZN and Kayo.
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