Kiwi heavyweight Joseph Parker has the opportunity he has craved for months – a confirmed world title bout against IBF champion Daniel Dubois in Saudi Arabia in February.
The bout, on the stacked undercard of the Artur Beterbiev v Dmitry Bivol clash for the undisputed world light heavyweight championship, will give Parker an opportunity to win back a different version of the WBO heavyweight world title he won in 2016 and lost two years later.
Englishman Dubois won the vacant IBF world title with a demolition of Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium in September.
Dubois, 27, has a 22-2 professional record compared with the 32-year-old Parker's 35-3 and is powerful but not without his flaws.
Dubois, who is of similar physical dimensions to Parker, suffered a broken eye socket in a heavy defeat in 2020 to Joe Joyce (who also beat Parker) and has also lost to WBC, WBO and WBA champion Oleksandr Usyk.
The news of the fight in Riyadh on February 23 NZT, floated recently by 1News, was released this morning by the official “Riyadh Season” social media accounts.
Various fighters have congratulated Parker on his opportunity, including UFC heavyweight Francis Ngannou, a man who has 7.1 million followers on instagram, who posted to Parker: "Congrats brother, it's your time."
The event has been titled “The Crescendo”. The main event is a rematch of the recent bout narrowly won by majority decision by Beterbiev.
Also on the card is Chinese heavyweight Zhilei Zhang, whom Parker beat in Riyadh in March. Zhang will fight Agit Kabayel.
Parker and his manager David Higgins have been contacted by 1News for comment.
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