Former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew has had his say on the upcoming heavyweight showdown between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker.
‘Dynamite’ Dubois defends his IBF world heavyweight title against the 33-year-old from New Zealand next month on the undercard of the highly anticipated undisputed light heavyweight championship rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Parker will have his sights set on capturing the Brit’s heavyweight crown, which he made the successful first defence of last September when he knocked out two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in the fifth round of their showdown at Wembley Stadium.
Parker previously held the WBO heavyweight title between 2016 and 2018, which he lost to Joshua in their unification bout at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
Speaking to Fightlens, Bellew claims he finds it hard to go against Dubois, but gave his plaudits to the in-form New Zealander who hits harder than heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk in the opinion of ‘The Bomber’.
“Don’t get me wrong, I look at the styles for this match-up, I find it hard to back against Daniel Dubois. Listen, Joe’s not the hardest to hit but then I’ll also be honest Joe’s got a bit of a pop as well.
Joe Parker hits harder than probably Oleksandr Usyk, I would think so being a career-long heavyweight and he’s got some good wins on his resume, but I find it hard backing against Daniel Dubois in that fight purely for the reason of [he’s] younger, fresher and he does have the big power.”
Dubois bounced back from his second career defeat against unified heavyweight champion Usyk, a stoppage, with wins against Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and ‘AJ’, but standing in his way is a man who’s last two victories have come against Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang, with both men on incredible form heading into this intriguing heavyweight match-up on February 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
