When Daniel Dubois touches gloves with Joseph Parker in Riyadh next month, it will be the latest fight in the fairytale revival of the dreaming pair.
The largest and most alarming scrap heap in boxing is in the heavyweight division, and both Parker and Dubois have flirted with the dirty pile over the last few years. The heap makes one-time contenders invisible, but Dubois and Parker have defied the odds, the science, and the sense to remain relevant.
Since the summer of 2023, their fortunes on both sides of the ropes have changed dramatically, and now they meet in one of the best heavyweight title fights for a long, long time – in the opening of the 2025 Riyadh Season on 22 February. Dubois is the current IBF champion and Parker’s form is irresistible; it is a great match-up.
Perhaps Dubois has had more to prove in the last year or so. In 2020, he was stopped in round 10 by Joe Joyce, and in 2023, he lost a world title fight with Oleksandr Usyk in round nine. “After the Usyk fight and the Joyce fight, people were quick to say I was finished,” said Dubois. “I had to stick with it and prove everyone wrong. I knew I could be the champion.”
The harsh truth is that Dubois had to answer claims that he had quit in both fights. It was a long road back from the defeat by Usyk in Poland, in August 2023; that loss reminded people of the loss to Joyce, as Dubois finished both fights on one knee. The scrap heap was calling, and there was no chance of a few gentle fights in obscurity to build his confidence.
It was similar with Parker, who was WBO heavyweight champion when he lost just about every round to Anthony Joshua, in a unification fight in 2018. He then lost a war with Dillian Whyte and was brutally knocked out in round 11 by Joyce in late 2022. It would have been easy for Parker to go back to New Zealand and keep fighting for obscure Pacific titles on low-key nights. “They were difficult times,” admitted Parker. “But I knew I had more to offer, and I knew I was not finished with the best in the heavyweight division. I also knew it would be a hard, hard road back.”
The pair also knew they would have to take risks as part of their return to serious contention. When the Saudi Arabian boxing revolution was launched in late 2023, the realisation came: there would not be easy fights for anybody at any time. Parker and Dubois signed their names.
On the same night in December 2023, Parker and Dubois were underdogs in fights in Riyadh. Dubois was in with the division’s notorious bad boy, Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller, and Parker was matched with former world champion Deontay Wilder. Two stoppage losses were the most likely outcome and then, perhaps, they could be recycled against each other; there were no bold plans for either before the bell tolled on that fantastic night.
Dubois stopped Miller with just eight seconds left in the 10th and final round, and Parker was brilliant in winning just about every round against Wilder over 12. Miller and Wilder put forward excuses, which were sensibly ignored.
However, it was only the first step for Dubois and Parker in a division where competition was suddenly fierce. Next, Parker was matched with Zhilei Zhang, who had twice stopped Joyce and was on a destructive roll. Dubois was given unbeaten Filip Hrgovic, who had a win over Zhang. Once again, the pair started as underdogs in Riyadh.
Zhang dropped Parker two times, but the New Zealander won a draining brawl on points after 12 rounds. Dubois had a difficult start against Hrgovic, but took over and stopped the Croatian in round eight. The comebacks were, in some ways, complete.
Dubois also collected the interim IBF belt for the Hrgovic win; last September, in front of 96,000 at Wembley Stadium, he knocked out Joshua for the full version. Dubois, who was an underdog again, completed his rehabilitation.
Parker and Dubois have shared an unlikely fairytale of defying the odds, and now they share a ring. It is a special fight for two men who have nothing to prove. Now, it is just about the riches.
