Daniel Dubois finds himself in the middle of heated discussions about who should land a fight with unified champion Oleksandr Usyk.
The British talent had built up some superb momentum in the last 18 months or so. He began with a big win over American Jarrell Miller and followed up that stoppage with another against the well-regarded Filip Hrgovic, which saw him elevated to full IBF Heavyweight World Champion.
However, he has now rather stalled after falling ill back in February. That meant his voluntary defence against Joseph Parker fell through late in the day.
Although Dubois’ aim was to fight Usyk for the undisputed title, the WBO has instead ordered the Ukrainian to defend against Parker, who got a second-round KO win over late replacement Martin Bakole on the night he should have faced ‘DDD’.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Dubois’ coach Don Charles spoke about why Dubois should be next for Usyk rather than mandatory challenger Parker.
“It should be [us], for a number of reasons. We’ve got the other chip that makes up the jigsaw.
On the idea that many feel his charge should be honouring his fight with Parker, Charles was dismissive.
“People are missing a lot of points here, it’s almost as if everyone is feeling sorry for Parker. I’ve been in the same situation before, but these things happen. It was a voluntary defence, we volunteered to fight Parker.”
Usyk too has stated he would rather fight Dubois next and make history by becoming a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion after also holding all four belts at cruiserweight. Whether or not a step aside deal can be struck with Parker remains to be seen, with the other option Usyk potentially dropping the WBO belt.
