Joseph Parker has already mapped out his future destination after his title challenge against IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois on February 22nd, targeting the winner of this month’s rematch between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
Parker’s Plan
It’s hard to picture Parker getting past Dubois and then defeating the winner of the Fury-Usyk 2 rematch. If the New Zealander Parker can pull it off, it would be one of the biggest comebacks in heavyweight history, next to what George Foreman did.
This would be even bigger, though, because Parker would have beaten the top guys in the division. Foreman didn’t do that when he made his comeback.
Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) has turned his career around at 32, beating former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang in back-to-back fights in Riyadh.
Neither of the fights was particularly thrilling to watch, involving Parker using a lot of movement and holding to avoid getting clocked by those two big punchers. Those are two very old heavyweights that Parker beat, and they were nowhere near the level of Dubois, Fury, or Usyk.
Parker is said to have a ‘secret plan’ on beating Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs), but it’s pretty obvious what that entails. He’s skittish since losing to Joe Joyce and has adopted an age-old defensive approach involving movement, upper body gyrations, holding, and quick two-punch combinations. Parker has been transformed into a spoiler.
Eyeing the Undisputed Crown
We think Joshua might have made Dubois look better than he is. That wasn’t Anthony Joshua at his best,” said David Higgins to Sky Sports. “We think Joseph will be a handful for Dubois and will win on the night.”
He’s only 32 years old, but he’s a veteran. So I think we’ve got the edge in terms of experience. Joseph wants to become undisputed heavyweight world champion. He wants to beat Dubois and then he wants to fight whoever has the other belts and try and unify,” said Higgins about Parker.
Dubois was impressive not only against Joshua but also in his clash with Oleksandr Usyk and Jarrell Miller. Many boxing fans believe the referee blew the call in the fifth round when Dubois dropped Usyk with a body shot, which the ref ruled was a low blow. Replays showed it was on the beltline.
It won’t be the end of the world for Parker if he fails against Dubois or the winner of the Fury vs. Usyk 2. It’s impressive that he’s been able to turn his career around with his wins over Wilder and Zhang.
