Two of the most in-form heavyweights in the world are set to collide for the first time on February 22.
Following his controversial loss to Oleksandr Usyk in August of 2023, Daniel Dubois has produced one of the most impressive runs in the heavyweight division.
His three-fight win and finish streak has seen him reach new heights in his career with his latest performance, a fifth-round knockout over Anthony Joshua giving him a signature victory.
The same can be said for his next opponent, Joseph Parker, with them going head-to-head in Riyadh later this month for the IBF heavyweight title. The matchup may be the co-main event to the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol but that only speaks to the strength of the card as a whole.
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Lawrence Okolie says that if anyone can withstand the power of Daniel Dubois, it’s Joseph Parker
In a recent interview with Seconds Out on YouTube, Laurence Okolie weighed in with his thoughts on the upcoming heavyweight clash in Riyadh.
The former cruiserweight world champion has recently made his way up to the heavyweight division where it has been announced that he will face Richard Riakporhe on April 5 in Manchester.
Whilst in attendance at the Co-op Live in Manchester this past weekend, Okolie revealed that he finds the fight difficult to call for one particular reason.
Daniel Dubois isn’t known as ‘Dynamite’ for no reason and he has displayed that in his recent fights. That being said, Okolie made the argument for why Joseph Parker won’t be intimidated by this when you look at his back-to-back wins against two dangerous knockout artists.
“I think Dubois should be a bit too strong and intense and sort of be able to break him down,” the former cruiserweight and bridgerweight champion explained. “But we’ve seen him beat two of the other biggest punchers in the heavyweight division in (Zhilei) Zhang and (Deontay) Wilder.
“So Parker has got experience with really big punchers and negating it and surviving knockdowns and still going and getting wins so if there’s someone who can do it, I think that it is him so, tough one.”
Can Joseph Parker avoid the power of Daniel Dubois?
As Lawrence Okolie correctly pointed out, Joseph Parker has been able to either stifle or withstand the power of his last two opponents.
He completely outclassed Deontay Wilder in their fight and never gave ‘The Bronze Bomber’ the opportunity to produce a remarkable knockout.
The cause for concern comes from the fact that he was dropped twice by Zhilei Zhang and even though the 33-year-old was able to recover well, that’s something that Daniel Dubois’ team will have watched very closely.
‘DDD’ has proven that he’s an effective fight finisher and as Okolie said, he’s got the intensity to create the opportunities for it to land, meaning that Parker will need to be perfect or weather a huge storm to get his hand raised.