Joseph Parker will attempt to become a two-time heavyweight champion on February 22, challenging IBF belt holder Daniel Dubois in their co-feature bout on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 in Riyadh.
Parker’s return
Former WBO heavyweight champion Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) recently turned his career around, beating 40-year-old Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang in back-to-back fights to earn himself this title shot against Dubois (22-2). 21 KOs) on Turki Al-Shiekh’s card.
Dubois is in his prime, powerful and dangerous. It won’t be the piece of cake that Parker has had in his last two fights against old guys. It’s a great story that Parker has turned his career around, but this time he’s facing a young, lively dog. Dubois is not over-the-hill.
If Parker had a better chin he would have a good chance to win, but he doesn’t take shots well 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 unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed championship. It would be a rematch of their fight two years ago on August 26, 2023, which Dubois lost by ninth-round knockout in Wroclaw, Poland. Earlier in the fight, he dropped Usyk with a body shot in the fifth round, but the referee said it was a low blow. It didn’t seem low to many fans.
“Don’t count your chickens. I don’t think Daniel Dubois will necessarily beat Joseph Parker,” Eddie Hearn told DAZN.
Hearn said he wants Jai Opetaia to fight Usyk for his belts. It wouldn’t be good for Eddie if Dubois defeated Parker and faced Usyk next, as it would upset his plans for a Usyk-Opetaia fight. It will be interesting to know what Hearn thinks of the Dubois-Parker fight because he has too much to gain if Dubois loses.
Ring Rust
“By the time the fight date arrives, I will be out of the ring for a year (11 months). It doesn’t concern me. I’ve been training, and now that I have a big fight, I want to show something different in the ring,” said Joseph Parker. iFL TV about his match against Dubois.
“I want to show smoothness, aggression, power, speed; I want to show it all,” Parker continued. “There is a lot at stake. I got the opportunity to fight for the belt again. There’s a difference in fighting for it (December 10, 2016, against Andy Ruiz Jr.) and winning it (WBO heavyweight title). If I win it now, I’ll appreciate it more, and I want to hold on to it.
“Now I live life, and I love what I do. At that time I was just learning about myself and my life. I had a belt and some money, and I enjoyed myself. Now, I have a wife and children, and I am much more mature. Win this (IBF title); I want to hang on to it and then move on to bigger and better things,” Parker said.
Being out of the ring for 11 months isn’t a good thing that the 32-year-old Parker is trying to paint as because he didn’t look good in his last fight. He takes on a young, active fighter, Dubois, and it will be tough for him.
Parker doesn’t say why he hasn’t fought in the past 11 months, but it could be that the money hasn’t been there for him to stay active. He got some nice paydays in his last two fights against Zhilei Zhang and Deontay Wilder. Parker needs notable fighters like Dubois to keep getting the same kind of dough.
Parker’s KO Prediction
“I think I can (beat Dubois), but he’s shown a good chin, and he’s shown grit and determination and fights when the going gets tough, but I believe I can,” Parker said of his belief that he can beat Dubois KO.
Parker is unlikely to come close to knocking out Dubois on February 22, and if he tries, it will end badly for him. With how Parker has transformed his fighting style into a smart boxer, he is not in the pocket long enough to score knockouts.
That’s why his last two fights went the distance of 12 rounds against Zhilei Zhang and Deontay Wilder. Parker was lucky to get the decision against Zhang in his last fight on March 8, dropped twice and had to box to survive.
The biggest heavyweight fight of the year so far. February 22nd. Dubois vs Parker in Riyadh 🔥🥊#Riyadh season #duboisvparker pic.twitter.com/ARlMuqbucZ
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) January 4, 2025
