JOSEPH PARKER bounced up off the deck TWICE to outpoint Zhilei Zhang and cement his place in the heavyweight world title race.
The 32-year-old – whose wife is pregnant with their fifth child and first son – was decked in the third and eighth but resurrected to be daddy cool in the desert.
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Two months after he put on a masterclass to stun Deontay Wilder, he did the same to the 21st China star – apart from two blips.
“It’s a great win,” he beamed. “I feel I am on the up right now.
“Zhang is a tough man but my team just kept telling me to follow the plan.
“Now I want to go home and celebrate and then we will come back and do the rematch.
The three judges ringside in Riyadh called it: 113-113, 114-112 and 115-111 for a majority to Parker.
The opener was cagey but, in the second, southpaw Zhang clipped his shorter and lighter rival with a lead right hook and made him stumble.
The third was coasting along nicely until Parker switched off and was dropped heavily.
A textbook long left hand rifled out from Zhang and smacked him in the nose, robbing him of his balance.
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Parker leaped back up and stared right at excellent trainer Andy Lee – who wisely told him to stay calm, breath and recover his senses, which he did enough to see out the session.
That arrow-like blow sparked a torrent of blood from Parker’s nose and made his handsome face look like a bullseye to the US-based gun range regular.
But Parker did seem to buzz Zhang with a one-two combination just before the bell, but the 40-year-old smirked it away.
Parker needed to use his superior speed and stamina – like he did in the magnificent points win over Wilder – but it’s easier said than done against a 6ft 6in southpaw with a concrete skull.
And, despite a bright start to the eighth, he was clipped around the temple and took a knee and a five count, to lose another stanza 10-8 and leave himself an uphill task to get over the great China wall.
Parker did good work in rounds 10 and 11 but Zhang seemed impervious to pain and shrugged the scoring blows off.
The twelve slipped by with Parker landing one early right hand and Zhang staying out of trouble in the hope two knockdowns would secure him the decision but he was disappointed.
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