The big fight for the IBF Heavyweight championship between champion Daniel Dubois and challenger Joseph Parker gets closer, and we’re all set to see who prevails this Saturday.
We talked to former Olympic boxer and bronze medalist David Price, who gave his insights on the strengths and weaknesses of the boxers and shared why he feels Dubois should be careful. Price has also revealed what he believes should be the next fight for the winner.
Daniel Dubois should be careful – Parker’s more durable than AJ
The reigning IBF champion, who last beat Anthony Joshua via a knockout in the fifth round at Wembley, said that he doesn’t think Joseph Parker is as tough as Joshua.
Price, however, thinks otherwise and warns his compatriot to not underestimate the New Zealander.
“I can see why he’s saying it but he should be careful because Joseph Parker is a fighter who’s got really good momentum and he’s beaten some good fighters since losing to Joe Joyce.”
“He beat up Derek Chisora. More than I’ve seen Chisora beat up since he was knocked out by David Haye. Parker is more than capable of getting in there and busting people up.”
The former British and Commonwealth Heavyweight champion believes that Parker is more durable than AJ, therefore disagreeing with Dubois’ assessment and attributing that to the reigning champ being complacent.
“I think Parker is more durable than AJ. Joshua can get hurt. Parker has only been stopped by Joe Joyce by the distance, and he did the same thing to Dubois.”
“Parker is a sturdy, solid heavyweight who can take punishment but he’s not as dangerous as Joshua. It might be complacency because all heavyweights can hit and punch.”
Price believes Dubois is the better of the two fighters
We asked Price about each fighter’s strengths and weaknesses and for Dubois, it was obviously going to be his physicality, aggression and punching power. Price also praised his timing and his jab which was key in defeating Joshua.
“Dubois’ strengths are pretty obvious. His physicality, aggression and punch power. He´s got a really good jab and he has good timing as well. One of his good assets is his timing and we have seen that in the Joshua fight. When he beat him it was because of the jab a lot of the time.”
Regarding Dubois’ weaknesses, Price mentioned his defence and tendency to walk into punches. While Price says that Dubois has a great chin, it should not be an excuse to not focus on defence.
“His weakness is probably his defence. He is too easy to hit and sometimes even if you have the best chin in the world, the best chin is the one that doesn’t get it. He does tend to walk into some big shots. He kind of got out of jail in that round against Joshua at Wembley, where Joshua was amazing. Dubois pulled one out of the bag.”
“Sometimes having a great chin, it’s all good and well but you don’t want to be getting hit too much.”
When it comes to Parker, the Beijing Olympics bronze medalist says that the New Zealander is a complete boxer and he believes that Parker possesses all the skills needed in boxing. He also thinks that the boxer doesn’t really have any weaknesses. That being said, he doesn’t see anything exceptional in him, which is why he believes Dubois to be the better fighter.
“Joseph Parker, he’s a good fighter. He doesn’t do anything exceptional but he’s just consistent. He can change tactics, stick to instructions throughout the fight.”
“And I wouldn’t even say Joseph Parker has a particular weakness. He’s got good stamina, good engine, good chin, good fundamentals.”
“But it’s all good. Nothing’s exceptional. Whereas Daniel Dubois, his defence might not be the best but he’s got exceptional punch power, exceptional timing and exceptional strength and aggression.”
“I couldn’t necessarily point to a weakness in Parker but I would say Dubois is the better of the two fighters.”
Usyk should face the winner of this Dubois vs Parker, followed by Wladimir Klitschko
While reports suggest that the winner of Dubois vs Parker will go on to face Anthony Joshua, Price thinks that they should be facing unified World Heavyweight Champion, Oleksandr Usyk, as that would be the money fight.
“I think that’s the one (Usyk) that they should be aiming for. The money fight. The Usyk fight. That’s the challenge to compete against the best.”
“If your ambition is to be the heavyweight champion of the world, the only way is up and that’s with Usyk. It definitely makes sense for the winner to fight Usyk.”
In the case of Dubois winning the fight, Price points to the British boxer’s last meeting against Usyk where we saw a controversial low blow call when Dubois downed the Ukrainian.
Price believes that it was a low blow but concedes that because the fight had question marks, it would make sense for him to take on Usyk.
“I think Daniel Dubois has got to be in the conversation for one of his two fights as there are still questions over their first fight where he had Usyk hurt. I think it was below the belt but at the time it was hotly debated.”
“Usyk took the full amount of time to recover which shows he must have really been hurt. You rarely see that amount of time given in boxing. He took five minutes I think.”
“On the flip side of that Usyk did stop Dubois in the end.”
“But because there are still question marks plus the fact Dubois has gone from strengths to strengths with great momentum. He’s got to be in the mix.”
Usyk himself has mentioned that he has two fights left in him. Recently Wladimir Klitschko said he was mulling coming out of retirement to face his compatriot and as per Price, Usyk’s last two fights should be facing the winner of Dubois vs Parker, followed by a legacy fight against Klitschko.
“The thing with Usyk is he’s beat everyone there is to beat and he’s got nothing else to gain so the Klitschko fight might make sense as novelty as it may seem. I think it would be great for Ukraine to see two of the greatest heavyweights fighting.”
“He’s beat Fury twice, he’s beat Joshua twice and will likely have beaten Dubois twice which means he’s running out of challenges. The upcoming heavyweights aren’t quite ready yet so I’d go with Dubois and finish your career with a Klitschko fight.”
