Once within spitting distance of a shot at Canelo, Parker (26-1, 18 KO) has quietly worked his way up the ranks since an injury stoppage loss to John Ryder in their 2022 eliminator. His last three fights have seen him take out former titlist Tyron Zeuge, countryman Jack Arnfield, and most recently capable Frenchman Mickael Diallo. He’s far from a soft touch for Buatsi (19-1, 13 KO), especially with the latter coming off a damaging loss to Callum Smith.
The second piece of the light heavyweight tripleheader pits Daniel Lapin (12-0, 4 KO) against Troy Jones (12-1, 6 KO). Lapin narrowly edged out the egregiously dirty Lewis Edmondson last month and gets what looks like a much lighter touch in Jones, who dropped a wide decision to Ezra Taylor in May.
The opener sees recent signee Bradley Rea (21-1, 10 KO) defend his European title against Lyndon Arthur (24-3, 16 KO) in the latter’s first fight since losing his rubber match with Anthony Yarde in May. Rea’s coming off a good win over Shakan Pitters and this figures to be another stern test for him.
Two very solid fights and a gimme in the middle. I’ve seen much worse.