Ill Dubois withdraws from heavyweight title defense vs. Parker
Parker remains on card, faces Bakole in bout arranged on 3 days' notice
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In major shakeup to the Riyadh Season card on Saturday, IBF heavyweight titlist Daniel Dubois on Thursday withdrew due to illness from his defense against Joseph Parker, who will remain on the show and instead defend his WBO interim belt against Martin Bakole, who campaigned to get the fight on three days’ notice.
Dubois was slated to make his second defense against Parker in the co-feature of the mega card headlined by the rematch between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and former titlist Dmitry Bivol on Saturday (DAZN PPV, PPV.COM, $25.99, 10:30 a.m. ET) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Dubois did not attend the final news conference on Thursday night in Riyadh with the DAZN coverage of the event beginning with a report about his illness, which was first reported by The Ring magazine, which is owned by Riyadh Season head Turki Alalshikh, who later announced through The Ring that Bakole would replace him.
“Daniel’s been evaluated by a doctor and when we have more news we will share it with you and update you,” Queensberry Promotions’ Frank Warren said at the news conference.
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Potential replacement opponents included former bridgerweight and cruiserweight titlist Lawrence Okolie (21-1, 16 KOs), 32, of England, who is scheduled to fight Richard Riakporhe on April 5; David Adeleye (13-1, 12 KOs), 28, of England, who is scheduled to face Jeamie “TKV” Tshikeva on the same April 5 card Okolie is slated for; and Mourad Aliev (13-0, 10 KOs), a French southpaw and 2020 Olympian.
But Billy Nelson, the trainer and manager of top contender Martin Bakole, posted to social media that his man would take the fight with Parker on short notice.
“We have instructed our promoter (Boxxer) to tell the appropriate people that Martin Bakole is ready to fly to Saudi Arabia to fight Joe Parker, no problem whatsoever,” Nelson wrote.
The overture worked and Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs), 33, a Congo native fighting out of Scotland, is headed for Riyadh.
Bakole has had trouble getting fights but is coming off a very impressive fifth-round destruction of American contender Jared Anderson in August on the Riyadh Season card headlined by Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov in Los Angeles.
“If he is ill I hope he gets better soon,” Parker said of Dubois at the news conference. “And I’m looking forward to Saturday and putting on a great show. I’m ready to go. I’ve put in the hard work.”
Spencer Brown, Parker’s manager, said even before Bakole had been secured that they would have a new opponent for Parker to face.
“There will be a fight Saturday,” Brown said at the news conference. “Whoever’s there, Joe’s ready to fight, he’s ready go, he’s ready to win. That’s it. Whoever we’re gonna fight Saturday, Joe is up for it. He doesn’t care. He’s one of them fighters who will fight anybody.”
Parker (35-3, 23 KOs), 33, of New Zealand, has won five fights in a row, including back-to-back decisions over former WBC titlist Deontay Wilder in December 2023 and Zhilei Zhang to win the WBO interim belt last March, both in Riyadh.
When Parker signed to fight Dubois, the WBO announced that Parker would be stripped of the interim belt when the bell rang because it does not allow an interim title to be unified with another organization’s title.
However, WBO president Gustavo Olivieri said on Thursday that the WBO would sanction Parker in an interim defense against Bakole.
Dubois is the second fighter in two days to fall off the show. On Wednesday, it was lightweight Floyd Schofield, who fell ill, was taken to the hospital and taken off the show by the British Boxing Board of Control, which is in charge of regulating the vent. Schofield was due to challenge WBC lightweight titlist Shakur Stevenson but was replaced by England’s Josh Padley, who arrived in Riyadh and was present at the news conference.
Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs), 27, of England, is coming off by his far his biggest win. After being elevated from interim titlist to full IBF titleholder when undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk was forced to vacate, Dubois made his first defense against former two-time unified titleholder and countryman Anthony Joshua and scored a massive upset knockout victory in September at Wembley Stadium in London. He dropped Joshua four times en route to a pulverizing fifth-round knockout of the year contender for his third win in a row since a ninth-round knockout loss challenging Usyk in August 2023.
Beterbiev-Bivol II PPV lineup
Light heavyweights: Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) vs. Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs), rematch, for Beterbiev’s undisputed title
Heavyweights: Joseph Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) vs. Martin Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs), for Parker’s WBO interim title
Lightweights: Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs) vs. Josh Padley (15-0, 4 KOs), for Stevenson’s WBC title
Middleweights: Carlos Adames (24-1, 18 KOs) vs. Hamzah Sheeraz (21-0, 17 KOs), for Adames’ WBC title
Junior middleweights: Vergil Ortiz Jr. (22-0, 21 KOs) vs. Israil Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs), for Ortiz’s WBC interim title
Heavyweights: Zhilei Zhang (27-2-1, 22 KOs) vs. Agit Kabayel (25-0, 17 KOs), for vacant WBC interim title
Light heavyweights: Joshua Buatsi (19-0, 13 KOs) vs. Callum Smith (30-2, 22 KOs), for Buatsi’s WBO interim title
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Major respect to Team Parker for the Bakole agreement, he coulda had a much easier mix with any of the others being considered 🥊🥊🥊
Bruiserweight Bakole!!!💪🏾🔥🏴
This card has been insane all week. This is some cartoon "Superfriends, assemble" level shit. Can not wait.