Joseph Parker will attempt to become a two-time heavyweight champion on February 22nd, 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 Comeback
The former WBO heavyweight champion Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) turned his career around recently, beating the 40-ish 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. This won’t be the piece of cake that Parker had in his last two fights against old guys. It’s a great story that Parker turned his career around, but he’s facing a young, live dog this time. Dubois isn’t over-the-hill.
If Parker had a better chin, he’d have a good chance of winning, 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 victory for Dubois will put him in a position to fight unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed championship. That would be a rematch of their fight two years ago on August 26, 2023, which Dubois lost by a ninth-round knockout in Wroclaw, Poland. He’d dropped Usyk earlier in the fight in the fifth round with a body shot, but the referee said it was a low blow. It didn’t look low to many fans.
“Don’t count your chickens. I don’t think Daniel Dubois will necessarily beat Joseph Parker,” said Eddie Hearn 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 faces Usyk next because that would upset his plans for a Usyk-Opetaia fight. It would be interesting to know what Hearn thinks about the Dubois-Parker fight because he has too much to gain if Dubois loses.
Ring Rust
“By the time the fight date comes, I’ll have been out of the ring for a year [11 months]. It doesn’t affect 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 to iFL TV about his match against Dubois.
“I want to show slickness, aggression, power, speed; I want to show it all,” Parker continued. “There’s a lot on the line. I got the opportunity to fight for the belt again. There’s a difference in fighting for it back then [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 onto it.
“Now, I live the life, and I love what I do. Back then, I was just learning about myself and my life. I had a belt and a bit of money, and I enjoyed myself. Now, I’ve got a wife and kids, and I’m a lot more mature. Win this [IBF title]; I want to hold onto it and then move on to bigger and better things,” said Parker.
Being out of the ring for 11 months isn’t a good thing that the 32-year-old Parker is trying to paint it as because he didn’t look great in his last fight. He’s taking on a young, active fighter, Dubois, and it will be tough for him.
Parker doesn’t say why he didn’t fight in the last 11 months, but it could be that the money wasn’t there for him to stay active. He’s gotten a couple of nice paydays in his last two fights against Zhilei Zhang and Deontay Wilder. Parker needs notable fighters like Dubois to keep getting that same kind of dough.
Parker’s KO Prediction
“I think I can [knockout out Dubois], but he’s shown a good chin, and he’s shown grit and determination and fights when it got hard, but I believe I can,” said Parker about his belief that he can KO Dubois.
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 how Parker has transformed his fighting style into a crafty boxer, he’s not in the pocket long enough to score knockouts.
That’s why his last two fights have gone the 12-round distance against Zhilei Zhang and Deontay Wilder. Parker was lucky to get the decision against Zhang in his last fight on March 8th, getting dropped twice and needing to box to survive.
The biggest heavyweight battle of the year so far. 22nd February. Dubois vs Parker in Riyadh 🔥🥊#Riyadhseason #duboisvparker pic.twitter.com/ARlMuqbucZ
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) January 4, 2025
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