Zach Parker may move in different worlds to Canelo Alvarez, but if Parker keeps winning, he could well bump into the Mexican in the ring one day, courtesy of his No 1 WBO ranking at super-middleweight.
Parker scored a third quick win in a row as he demolished Marcus Morrison in the fourth round, having dropped the Mancunian three times, all with body shots.
“Too big too strong,” Parker said. “He’s come up to try and take my WBO No 1 spot but no one is taking it off me.
“If Canelo wins tonight, I want Canelo. If he doesn’t want it, Chris Eubank [Jr] I want him, stop being a shithouse, let’s have it.
“Different styles make different fights. I know I can bang hard with both hands, he (Eubank) can’t. He (Morrison) gave him a hard fight, a hard ten rounds. Look at what I did, I did it with ease, demolished him. He’s a good fighter, but I am a better level.
“I want Canelo to win. If Caleb Plant wins there will be a rematch. I want Canelo next, I have been mandatory for two years.”
Parker switched from southpaw to orthodox early on and leapt in with his punches. He was caught by a decent right in return, but Parker got through with a good body shot and a powerful right that had Morrison covering up.
Early in the second round a left to the body hurt Morrison, who was then bowled over by a right. Morrison was up at seven, but soon under pressure again and was then down when a head shot was followed up by a right to the body that dropped Morrison again.
Morrison saw out the round and still carried enough menace that Parker was tentative at the start of the third. Indeed, while he was still well outgunned, Morrison did land a decent right hand.
Parker got the finish in the fourth, though, almost breaking Morrison in half with a right to the body and while Morrison leapt back to his feet when he saw his trainer, Joe Gallagher, threaten to throw in the towel, Parker did not let him escape this time, trapping Morrison on the ropes where he fired away with both hands until referee Bob Williams stopped the fight at 2:51 of the fourth round.
The win extended Parker’s record to 22-0, with 15 KOs.
Former British middleweight champion Denzel Bentley returned to winning ways with a third-round stoppage of Sam Evans.
Bentley was on top in the first two rounds, but finished the job quickly after rocking Evans with a right uppercut in the third round.
While Evans tottered around, Bentley caught his clean several times, spinning him round and referee Kevin Parker stepped in to stop the fight just before Evans fell to the floor at 2:41.
Ryan Garner recorded his best win to date with an eight-round decision over Portugal’s Pedro Manuel Gomes at lightweight. Garner kept the pressure on Gomes throughout and was well worth his 79-74 decision from referee Parker.
Tall super-lightweight prospect Eithan James moved up to 7-0 at the expense of Stu Greener, James taking every round from referee Christopher Dean in an 80-72 scorecard. Greener had some success in the seventh round, but overall James used his height well to dominate.