Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker have met for the first time since their title fight was announced.
Dubois defends his IBF heavyweight crown against Parker in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 22, on a packed card that also features the undisputed light-heavyweight title rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
‘DDD’ heads into the fight with Parker in superb form, beginning when he picked up back to back wins over Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic, the latter of which saw him become interim IBF heavyweight champion.
He was later elevated to full champion, and made the first defence of his belt against Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium in September.
Dubois won after a destructive fifth round knockout win, affirming himself as one of the current best heavyweights on the planet.
Parker is in just as fine a run of form, claiming points wins over both Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang over the past 12 months.
He is a former world champion in his own right, winning the WBO heavyweight strap against Andy Ruiz Jr back in 2016, before he lost it in a unification battle with Joshua.
Dubois and Parker arrived in Saudi Arabia this week to be in attendance for the heavyweight rematch between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday, and Dubois cut a confident figure and had just two words for Parker when they bumped into each other.
“Let’s go.”
Speaking later to The Stomping Ground, the Brit showed nothing but respect to his challenger but was adamant he will get through with the victory to face the winner of Usyk vs Fury.
“He’s the veteran in this fight. I look at him as a veteran, a guy that’s been through many wars. It’s not going to be an easy fight. As a champion I’ve always been taking harder and harder fights, stepping up, and this sort of fight will prepare me for an undisputed showdown. Let’s go.”
One man that has previously sparred Dubois is British heavyweight Dave Allen, and he’s given his prediction for the battle against Parker.
