Former world titlist Joseph Parker and former world title challenger Dereck Chisora will meet in a significant heavyweight bout Oct. 26 at the O2 Arena in London, promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing announced Saturday night.
The fight will serve as the co-feature on the card that will be headlined by a junior welterweight world title unification fight between Regis Prograis (24-0, 20 KOs), of Houston, and Josh Taylor (15-0, 13 KOs), of Scotland, in the final of the eight-man World Boxing Super Series, which was also announced Saturday night. DAZN will carry the card in the United States, and it will be on Sky Box Office pay-per-view in the United Kingdom.
Prograis is rejoining the tournament after he and promoter Lou DiBella said they planned to drop a breach of contract lawsuit they filed on Aug. 9 against tournament owner Comosa AG, although the paperwork finalizing the settlement has not yet been wrapped up, nor have specifics on Voluntary Anti-Doping Association testing for the bout.
Parker (26-2, 20 KOs), 27, of New Zealand, and Chisora (31-9, 22 KOs), 35, of England, have both won two fights in a row after each was defeated by Dillian Whyte. Parker lost by unanimous decision in an all-action scrap in July 2018, and Chisora lost by 11th-round knockout in December in a fight he led on two of the three scorecards at the time of the stoppage.
"Chisora will come with experience, and he will come with pressure," said Parker, who departed New Zealand for his training camp in Las Vegas a few days ago in anticipation of the fight being finalized. "He's coming off two good wins, so he'll be full on confidence and out to make a statement. As always, I back myself against any fighter on this planet, and I'm expecting an exciting war on Oct. 26."
The bout will be the second of the three-fight deal Parker signed with Hearn in June that he hopes will lead him back to a title fight. He lost his belt by unanimous decision to Anthony Joshua in a title unification fight in March 2018 and then suffered the loss to Whyte.
Parker followed the losses with a third-round knockout of Alexander Flores in New Zealand followed by a 10th-round knockout of former title challenger Alex Leapai on June 29 in Providence, Rhode Island, in the first bout of the deal with Hearn.
Parker will be fighting in the United Kingdom for the fourth time in his past six fights.
"I've always had a lot of love and support from my U.K. fans, and I can't wait for my return," he said. "A win here takes me another step towards targeting the other top names in the division and becoming a two-time world champion."
Chisora has wanted to face Parker for some time, and now has his chance.
"I've wanted this fight over a year now," he said. "Parker ... fled for the bush once already this year, complaining he didn't have enough time to prepare. I've now given him all the time he needed. I'm a real fighter. I'm always ready to go to war."
Chisora said he would "do what Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz both couldn't do," vowing to knock Parker out.
Hearn also announced two other 12-round undercard bouts:
• A lightweight fight between former three-division world titlist Ricky Burns (43-7-1, 16 KOs), 36, of Scotland, a winner of two fights in a row, and former featherweight titlist Lee Selby (27-2, 9 KOs), 32, of Wales. After Selby lost his belt to Josh Warrington by decision in May 2018, he moved up two weight classes to lightweight and outpointed Omar Douglas in his February debut in the division.
• A fight between European cruiserweight champion Yves Ngabu (20-0, 14 KOs), 30, of Belgium, and Lawrence Okolie (13-1, 10 KOs), 26, of England. Ngabu will be making his third defense.
"This card is epic, and we've only announced four fights," Hearn said. "Prograis versus Taylor is such a wonderful unification matchup, and Chisora versus Parker is nothing but heavyweight fireworks. Three-weight world champion Ricky Burns tackles former world champion Lee Selby in a brilliant domestic lightweight battle, and Lawrence Okolie faces a big step up against European Champ Yves Ngabu. There's plenty more to be added."