Parker's team will be wary about heavyweight unification bout claim

Promoter Frank Warren’s assertion that Joseph Parker will fight the winner of Daniel Dubois and Oleksandr Usyk’s heavyweight unification bout at Wembley Stadium in July will likely be greeted with scepticism by the Kiwi and his team.

Parker has been burned by Warren and Dubois before – the south Aucklander was scheduled to fight the Englishman for the IBF world heavyweight title in Saudi Arabia in February only for Dubois to pull out with a conveniently timed illness after Usyk arrived in Riyadh and made it clear he was open to a fight for all the belts.

Dubois is Warren’s man and while the promoter helps put on fights for Parker, there is no doubt about where his priorities lie.

But there is a more prosaic reason for Parker and his manager David Higgins to be wary about buying into Warren’s messages as he hypes a rematch between the pair two years after the Ukrainian stopped Dubois in a controversial fight in Poland: Usyk will be a heavy favourite to win, and Warren has no influence over him.

At the age of 38, Usyk has done it all in the fight game and may decide, after clearing out the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions, including big wins over former champions Anthony Joshua (twice) and Tyson Fury (twice), that there is nothing left for him to achieve.

He may choose to retire after a big final payday on July 20 NZT which will leave the four major heavyweight titles (WBO, WBC, IBF and IBO) vacant.

As the WBO mandatory challenger, Parker, 33, remains in a strong position and more so if Dubois upsets Usyk. But a win for Usyk could set in motion a chain of events that could see Parker’s path back to the WBO world championship thwarted by more politics.

Dubois has never fully explained about why he pulled out of the fight with Parker in Riyadh, which forced a late call-up for Martin Bakole, whom Parker stopped convincingly in the second round.

And Warren, an industry veteran, has appeared frustrated with questions about Parker’s plight, including this morning in London after a press conference promoting the Dubois v Uysk rematch.

"With Joe Parker, the WBO just put a mandate out saying that the winner of this fight [Usyk v Dubois] has to defend against the WBO mandatory challenger, which is Joe Parker," Warren told Sky Sports television.

"People might be saying 'Oh, Joe must be peed off he's not fighting Daniel'.

"Well, he'll be fighting for four belts now. Whoever wins it [the undisputed title fight], which I hope is going to be our man [Dubois], they'll be challenging for four belts so he's in a better place."

As always in professional boxing, it’s unlikely to be as straightforward as that.

Dubois, who beat Joshua for the vacant IBF belt after the organisation stripped Usyk of it when he elected to honour a rematch clause against Fury, is an improved fighter and was disappointed by the way his first bout against Usyk played out in Wroclaw in 2023.

The now 27-year-old Dubois felled Usyk with a punch ruled a low blow by the referee, and, once Usyk was given time to recover, he systematically dismantled Dubois, flooring him for the second and final time with a simple straight jab in the ninth round.

The rematch will be highly anticipated, especially by fans in the United Kingdom, but Usyk’s bravery in taking on all comers, his quick sense of humour, and the stoicism of the man born in Crimea in the face of Russian aggression in his homeland has won him a legion of supporters everywhere, especially in England.