The one person who doesn’t want to see George Groves fight Chris Eubank jr is Zach Parker.
He has his fingers crossed one of them pulls out – so he can step in.
The 23 year old from Woodville, Derbyshire, meets Adasat Rodriguez over 10 rounds in a World Boxing Super Series Substitute fight, meaning that should either Groves or Eubank pull out, Parker will fill the gap.
A proper Manchester welcoming. Can’t wait to fight here in a couple more days @ManUtdpic.twitter.com/6CkGebmRnX
— Chris Eubank Jr (@ChrisEubankJr) February 15, 2018
“I’m hoping one of them does pull out,” said Parker, a rangy, spiteful switch hitter with a 14-0 (10) record who says his jab is his best punch.
“I’m ready to go. I’m 100 per-cent ready to step in and put on a class performance.
“If I had to choose who to fight it would be Groves. He’s the bigger name, he’s a world champion and I think it would be a good fight.
“But if I got the chance to fight Eubank, I would definitely take it.”
There’s history between the Eubanks and the Parkers.
Darren Parker lost inside a round to Chris Eubank sr on February 15, 1988 and three decades on, there’s a chance their sons could fight.
“There had been a death the week or so before,” said Zach of the fight between his father and Eubank sr, “and the referees were being cautious. Dad was stopped prematurely. He was on his feet. He didn’t get put down.”
There was a chance Parker would meet another fighting Eubank, Sebastian, in the England Boxing Elite championships a couple of years ago – and he believes he has been on Eubank sr’s radar for a while.
Eubank sr grabbed Parker for a lengthy interrogation in Preston last January after he had predictably beaten Bradley Pryce in four rounds.
“He came up to me from behind, grabbed me and started asking me lots of questions about my training and telling me to take his advice,” remembered Parker. “It was strange. Maybe he thought that one day I might end up fighting his son and he wanted to find out all about me. But I don’t know. The Eubanks are a strange bunch. They do their own thing . . . “
Parker was only six years old when his father took him to the local boxing gym, Burton Amateur Boxing Club, and though he claimed CYP and Junior ABA honours and struck gold at the Haringey Box Cup, Zach remembers his 75-bout amateur career for its near misses and robberies.
“I got robbed so many times,” said Parker, “and there was too much politics.
“I beat Steed Wooodall (now fighting out of Miami with a 15-1 record) and then they sent him to the World Youth championship instead of me.
“It was all down to where you come from and I got sick of it, so I turned pro.”
That was in 2015 and right from the start, manager Errol Johnson talked up Parker’s prospects.
Johnson doesn’t talk up many prospects, but he talked up Parker.
(Boxing Social always rated him too, awarding him a Boxer-of-the-Night trophy when he was a 12-year-old amateur).
Now under Neil Marsh, promoted by the Sauerlands and still trained by Johnson and Paul Mann, Parker had a break-out win over Luke Blackledge on the Callum Smith-Erik Skoglund undercard in Liverpool last September.
Parker switched southpaw to iron out the former Commonwealth champion with a fast, looping back hand in just 160 seconds.
It was one of the more spectacular KOs of 2017.
“People wrote me off before that fight,” said Parker, “because he had more experience.
“But I proved them all wrong – and I knew I would.
“I knew I was going to be too big and awkward for him.
“I think my style is all wrong for lots of fighters. I have a weird style. I’m big for the weight and I switch and that messes people up.”
Rumour has it that WBA champion Tyron Zeuge couldn’t figure Parker out.
Zeuge invited Parker for a week’s sparring in Germany last year, but after six rounds on the opening day, Parker was apparently given the rest of the week off.
Parker describes the spar as “easy” and believes he’s too dangerous for Rocky Fielding to fight.
Parker is the mandatory for the British title and Marsh says that “in an ideal world Zach would fight Fielding in the substitute fight of the World Boxing Super Series final.”
But Parker said: “Fielding is world ranked and will probably think it’s too much of a risk to fight me. But if he wants the fight, he can have it.”
READ MORE:
Everything you need to know about Groves-Eubank
George Groves explains why he’s the clear favourite
Five questions that will determine the winner of Groves-Eubank