Zach Parker was forced to pull out of his WBO interim super middleweight title fight against John Ryder at the 02 Arena in London after four rounds due to a hand injury.
The unbeaten Parker, who was boxing at world level for the first time, started strongly behind the jab, taking the opening round with ease.
Ryder fighting out of the southpaw stance, had some success in the second but was finding Parker’s height and arm length advantages tricky to navigate.
It seemed as though everything was going to plan for the Derby native after four and all three judges had him ahead at odds with how BT’s pundits were seeing the fight.
However it was clear late in that final round that his hand was causing him real difficulties and his punch out put slowed to a halt, as the fourth came to an end.
After a brief discussion in his corner Parker stood up and went over to concede the fight to Ryder who after a few seconds contemplating what had happened burst in to celebration jumping on the ropes.
It will be a difficult pill to swallow for Zach but he showed his ability at this level and we wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back in the ring soon.
Ryder was quick to call out Canelo Alvarez but didn’t rule out a rematch down the line as he will know this win has an asterisk next to it through no fault of his own.
