Joseph Parker is a man in form right now and has a vested interest in the outcome to the upcoming rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois.
Dubois, too, has put together the best run of his career in the last 18 months, starting with a late KO of Jarrell Miller, then stopping Filip Hrgovic last June, and blasting out Anthony Joshua inside five back in September. He has not fought since then, however, so could have a little ring rust when he takes Usyk for the second time on July 19.
In the first fight, he had the Ukrainian down but from an illegal low blow and was then stopped in the ninth round.
Since then Usyk has twice beaten Tyson Fury on top of two previous wins over Anthony Joshua.
The winner of this month’s clash between Usyk and Dubois could find themselves in with Parker next, who has claimed wins over the likes of Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Martin Bakole in recent times.
Speaking to Jackpot City Casino, Parker explained what he thinks ‘DDD’ must do to beat the Ukrainian.
“It’ll be similar to the last fight where Daniel comes out firing and he comes out chasing him down, but then Usyk begins to break him down in the middle rounds. Usyk will start putting on the pace, and it depends if Daniel can keep up with the pace. Usyk just has an engine, and he has movements for days and feints, and he can confuse you.
“Usyk will get on top in the later rounds, but it’s 60-40 in favour of Usyk, it will be pretty close. I think for Daniel it’s all mental. He has to stay in it and believe in himself and back himself, and believe in the work that he’s done and take all of that and use it as confidence that he won’t break. Because in the last fight, he got hit with a jab and he stayed down. He has to overcome that challenge that he faced last time.”
Parker was set to take on Dubois himself in February, before the Brit was forced to withdraw on fight week and was replaced by Bakole.
