Coach Andy Lee says Joseph Parker will be ready to fight IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois on February 22nd if he doesn’t face Anthony Joshua. If that fight happens next, it will be huge.
Promoter Eddie Hearn says Joshua wants the rematch against Dubois but wants to wait to find out what happens with the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk II clash on December 21st. The Joshua-Dubois rematch isn’t likely because AJ needs more time to heal from his recent loss.
Dubois would be a tough fight for the 32-year-old Parker, who has transformed his fighting style into a crafty Chris Byrd type of fighter.
However, even with that style, Parker could be up against it, fighting the 27-year-old Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs), looked outstanding in his last three fights, knocking out Joshua, Filip Hrgovic, Jarrell Miller, and getting robbed of a stoppage in his fight against Oleksandr Usyk last year in August 2023.
Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) captured the WBO interim title with a 12-round split decision win over Zhilei Zhang on March 8th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was knocked down twice in that fight.
For Parker to have any chance against Dubois, he will need to be on his bike like he was in his wins over Zhang and Deontay Wilder. He was moving constantly in those fights, trying to evade the power of those two big punchers.
Even with all the movement Parker used, Zhang dropped him twice and was quite fortunate to be given a win. Due to the controversy involved, there should have been a rematch, but Parker is taking his win and is now looking to fight Dubois.
Parker can’t count on getting a decision based on Dubois gassing like Zhang or being afraid to throw punches, as Wilder was Dubois will be bringing it and looking to take Parker’s head off with every shot.
“The #1 choice is Daniel Dubois against Joseph Parker. But give me Daniel Dubois against Martin Bakole right now,” said commentator Ade Oladipo on his channel.
