UPDATE: Joseph Parker vs. Daniel Dubois is off the DAZN PPV, according to Ariel Helwani.
In what could turn out to be bad news, The Ring has reported how IBF heavyweight champ Daniel Dubois is “feeling sick and is currently being evaluated by a doctor.” There is now a chance Dubois will not be able to go ahead with his scheduled fight with Joseph Parker, the fight of course scheduled to take place on Saturday night, on the stacked card in Riyadh.
The Dubois-Parker fight is not officially postponed yet, with this being a developing story. However, with the recent postponement of the Shakur Stevenson-Floyd Schofield fight, this would be hit No2 if the worst did happen. As of right now, a replacement foe is being sought for Parker to box should Dubois be unable to fight.
According to The Ring, the three names being discussed as possible guys to fight Parker are Lawrence Okolie (this would be very interesting, Okolie being scheduled to fight fellow Londoner Richard Riakporhe on April 5 in the UK), David Adeleye (who is also set to box on the same April 5 date), and Mourad Aliev.
Again, it is to be hoped Dubois is okay to fight, but if the IBF heavyweight champion is not 100 percent but still goes ahead and fights, and loses, there will be a big asterisk next to Parker’s victory. And it goes without saying that neither fighter would want that.
It’s not altogether clear what is wrong with Dubois, but if the services of a doctor have been called for it’s possible it could be something really quite serious. As gutted as we fans will be if we have now to wait for a new date for the intriguing Dubois Vs. Parker fight, we must all hope Dubois makes a full recovery.
Whenever a card such as this one is put on (or maybe Saturday’s huge card could be referred to as unprecedented) there are, some would say, always going to be problems, such is the sheer magnitude of the event. It could be that we do lose two of the initial seven big fights that were scheduled.
As it is, though, Saturday’s card is still one heck of a great one.
