Joseph Parker will attempt to become a two-time heavyweight champion on February 22, challenging IBF champion Daniel Dubois in their undercard bout of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 in Riyadh.
Parker’s return
Former WBO heavyweight champion Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) turned his career around recently, defeating 40-year-old Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang in back-to-back fights to earn a title shot against Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) on the card of Turki Al-Shiekh.
Dubois is in his prime, powerful and dangerous. This won’t be the piece of cake Parker has had in his last two fights against seniors. It’s a great story that Parker turned his career around, but he’s facing a living dog now. Dubois is not on top of the mountain.
If Parker had a better chin, he would have had a better chance of winning, but he is not a good puncher, as we saw in his last fight against Zhang on March 8, 2024. Parker was down twice in that fight.
A win for Dubois would put him in a position to fight undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in an undisputed rematch. That will be a rematch of their fight two years ago on August 26, 2023, where Dubois lost by knockout in Wroclaw, Poland. He had dropped Usyk earlier in the fight in the fifth round with a body shot, but the referee said it was a low blow. It was not looked down upon by many fans.
“Don’t count your chickens. I don’t think Daniel Dubois will really beat Joseph Parker,” said Eddie Hearn writing to DAZN.
Hearn said he wants Jai Opetaia to fight Usyk for his belts. It won’t be good for Eddie if Dubois defeats Parker and then faces Usyk because that will interfere with his plans for the Usyk-Opetaia fight. It would be interesting to know what Hearn thinks about the Dubois-Parker fight because he has a lot to gain if Dubois loses.
Ring Rust
“The day of the fight will come and I will have finished a year without entering the ring [11 months]. It doesn’t affect me. I’ve been training, now that I have a big fight, I want to show something different in the ring,” said Joseph Parker on iFL TV about his match with Dubois.
“I want to show smoothness, aggression, power, speed; I want to show you everything,” Parker continued. “There’s a lot on the line. I got a chance to fight for the belt again. There is a difference in fighting back then [December 10, 2016, against Andy Ruiz Jr.] and to overcome it [WBO heavyweight title]. If I win it now, I will enjoy it more, and I want to hold on to it.
“Now, I’m living life, and I love what I do. At that time, I was learning about myself and my life. I had a belt and a little money, and I was enjoying myself. Now, I have a wife and children, and I am very mature. Win this [IBF title]; I want to stick with it and move on to bigger and better things,” said Parker.
Being out of the ring for 11 months is not a good thing that the 32-year-old Parker is trying to paint because he didn’t look good in his last fight. He will fight against a young man, Dubois, and it will be difficult for him.
Parker doesn’t say why he hasn’t fought in the past 11 months, but it’s possible that the money wasn’t there to continue working. He’s had a couple of good lead days in his last two fights against Zhilei Zhang and Deontay Wilder. Parker needs elite fighters like Dubois to continue to earn the same amount of money.
Parker’s KO prediction
“I think I can [knockout out Dubois]but he showed a good chin, and he showed strength and determination to fight when it’s hard, but I believe I can do it,” said Parker believing that KO Dubois can.
It’s unlikely that Parker will come close to knocking out Dubois on February 22nd, and if he tries, it will end badly for him. With the way Parker has evolved his fighting style into a stealthy boxer, he is never in the pocket long enough to score knockouts.
That’s why his last two fights went 12 rounds against Zhilei Zhang and Deontay Wilder. Parker was lucky to get a decision against Zhang in his last fight on March 8, falling twice and needing to be punched to survive.
The biggest heavyweight fight of the year so far. 22 February. Dubois vs Parker in Riyadh 🔥🥊#Riyadhseason #duboisvparker pic.twitter.com/ARlMuqbucZ
– TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) January 4, 2025
