Parker vs. Dubois: Will 11 months out of the ring hurt Parker?

Joseph Parker will attempt to become a two-time heavyweight champion on February 22, challenging IBF belt holder Daniel Dubois in his co-main event on the 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 Deontay Wilder and 40-year-old Zhilei Zhang in back-to-back fights to earn this title shot. against Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) on Turki Al-Shiekh’s card.

Dubois is at his best, powerful and dangerous. This won’t be the piece of cake that Parker had in his last two fights against old men. It’s a great story that Parker changed his career, but this time he’s up against a young, lively dog. Dubois is not exaggerated.

If Parker had a better chin, he would have a good chance of winning, but he doesn’t shoot well, as we saw in his last fight against Zhang on March 8, 2024. Parker went down twice in that fight.

A win for Dubois will put him in position to fight unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed championship. That would be a rematch of their fight from two years ago, on August 26, 2023, which Dubois lost via ninth-round knockout in Wroclaw, Poland. He had knocked Usyk down earlier in the fight in the fifth round with a body shot, but the referee said it was a low blow. Many fans didn’t find it low at all.

“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 won’t be good for Eddie if Dubois defeats Parker and faces Usyk next because that would upset his plans for a fight between Usyk and Opetaia. It would be interesting to know what Hearn thinks about the Dubois-Parker fight because he has a lot to gain if Dubois loses.

ring rust

“By the time the fight date comes, I will 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,” Joseph Parker told iFL TV about his match against Dubois.

“I want to show cunning, aggression, power, speed; “I want to show it all,” Parker continued. “There is a lot at stake. I had the opportunity to fight for the belt again. There’s a difference between fighting for it back then (December 10, 2016, against Andy Ruiz Jr.) and winning it (WBO heavyweight title). If I win it now, I will appreciate it more and want to keep it.

“Now I live life and love what I do. Back then, I was learning about myself and my life. I had a belt and some money and I had fun. Now I have a wife and children and I am much more mature. Win this (IBF title); I want to keep it and then move on to bigger and better things,” Parker said.

Being out of the ring for 11 months is not a good thing Parker, 32, is trying to paint because he didn’t look very good in his last fight. He will face a young and active fighter, Dubois, and it will be difficult for him.

Parker doesn’t say why he didn’t fight in the last 11 months, but it could be because he didn’t have the money to stay active. He has received a couple of big paydays in his last two fights against Zhilei Zhang and Deontay Wilder. Parker needs notable fighters like Dubois to continue making the same kind of money.

Parker KO Prediction

“I think I can (knock out Dubois), but he’s shown a good chin, and he’s shown courage and determination and fights when the going gets tough, but I think I can,” Parker said of his belief that he can knock out Dubois. .

Parker is unlikely to come close to knocking out Dubois on February 22, and if he tries, it will end badly for him. With the way 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 been 12 rounds against Zhilei Zhang and Deontay Wilder. Parker was lucky to get the decision against Zhang in his last fight on March 8, falling twice and having to box to survive.

The biggest heavyweight battle of the year so far. February 22. Dubois vs Parker in Riyadh 🔥🥊#Riadseason #duboisvparker pic.twitter.com/ARlMuqbucZ

— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) January 4, 2025