Heavyweight Feature: Daniel Dubois vs Joseph Parker: ‘In Focus’

Since his defeat to Usyk in August 2023, Dubois has been putting in performances that fit perfectly with his nickname: Dynamite. Losing to Usyk is no disgrace – let’s face it, he looks pretty much unbeatable – and Dubois put in a credible performance that night.

Before 2023 was out, Dubois returned to the ring. Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena, the venue for Saturday’s contest, hosted as Dubois had to bite down on his gum shield and fight to the very last minute of his battle with American Jarrell Miller – a man who outweighed him by close to 100 pounds. Dubois started slowly but turned the fight around by boxing well and landing heavy leather with increasing regularity as the fight progressed. In the final seconds of the bout, the referee stopped the contest as Miller was taking too much punishment.

Dubois was back in action in June 2024, again at the Kingdom Arena. This time, undefeated Croatian Filip Hrgovic was his opponent. Like the Miller bout, Dubois started a little slowly but turned things in his favor by getting behind his jab, which in turn allowed him to connect with more powerful shots. Hrgovic ended up being cut badly and the referee stopped the contest in the eighth round after taking the advice from the ringside doctor. Dubois had won impressively again.

Boxing politics stipulated that Dubois was now the interim IBF champion following his win over Hrgovic. Before the month of June was over, he was upgraded to full champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the title.

Three months later Dubois defeated his countryman Anthony Joshua in front of an enormous crowd in excess of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium. Dubois had Joshua down four times in a shootout, which ended in the fifth round with Joshua being counted out. In an action-packed encounter, Dubois combined strength, athleticism, and power to get the better of Joshua. It was a performance that made the wider sporting public sit up and take notice of the man with dynamite in his gloves.

Joseph Parker’s Recent Run

Following his setback against Joyce in September 2022, Parker regrouped and decided to get busy the following year. The New Zealander with Samoan heritage boxed four times in 2023 – wins in January, May, October, and December brought him back towards fighting for a world title once again.

He began his comeback campaign with a unanimous decision victory over Englishman Jack Massey in Manchester. Parker followed that showing with a first-round knockout of Faiga Opelu at the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne, Australia. It was a quick victory in a stay-busy fight.

Next up, Parker boxed in Saudi Arabia for the first time. Canadian Simon Kean was his opponent as part of the Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou undercard. Parker started the fight carefully, having a look at his opponent, who had won 22 of his 23 bouts by stoppage. It was a sensible strategy from Parker, but one he quickly abandoned as he realized Kean wasn’t in his league. Parker brought out his uppercut and successfully landed it. Kean was floored in the third round, and the contest was stopped shortly afterward.

Parker’s final assignment of 2023 took him back to Saudi Arabia to face another opponent with a tasty KO record. Deontay Wilder was that man, but on the night, Parker boxed a tactically sound fight, staying away from Wilders’ vaunted right hand. It was an excellent display of disciplined boxing, which gave Parker a landslide victory on the scorecards.

In 2024, Parker returned to Saudi Arabia to face Zhilei Zhang of China. Again, Parker found himself in with a hugely dangerous puncher. Again, he relied on his boxing skills and movement to grind out a close majority decision win. Parker was down twice in the fight but was able to recover and win enough rounds due to his work-rate to have his hand raised at the final bell.

After a busy 2023, the Zhang bout was Parker’s only contest of 2024. He has now been out of the ring for 11 months as he waits to face another hugely powerful opponent this weekend.

How Will Dubois vs Parker Look?

Stripping this fight down to simple terms, we basically have a puncher against a boxer. In this case, the puncher can box adequately and looks to be improving all the time, while the boxer has power, which has to be respected.

Dubois knows his main asset is his power. He must be patient in this contest and engineer openings to throw the big shots. Parker isn’t going to offer up a fire-fight in the way Joshua did. A few years back, this might have been a major issue for Dubois, but he is now much better at moving around the ring and working behind his jab. He learned plenty the night he fought Usyk.

Parker has demonstrated that he can neutralize a power puncher by sticking to his tactical plan and using his speed to land at the right moments. He will have to do this again, only this time against an opponent in his prime. As good as his wins over Wilder and Zhang were, both are firmly in the veteran category and didn’t have enough gas to actively walk down Parker for 36 minutes.

Both men box out of the orthodox stance and are close in height and reach. Dubois is slightly taller and longer, but that shouldn’t have a significant impact on the contest.

Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker Fight Prediction

In what could very well be the fight of the night on a top-class card, both Dubois and Parker will have their moments in a contest, which will give us a few momentum swings. Parker is too good, and his boxing IQ is too high for him not to have a trick or two up his sleeve for Dubois. Dubois should prepare to be patient and rely more on his improving boxing skills rather than his power to deal with what Parker throws at him.

While this one could go either way, I’ll go with Dubois winning by stoppage in the second half of the fight. Parker can’t be discounted due to recent form, but assuming he has prepared diligently, Dubois will deliver the loudest crescendo in Riyadh on February 22.