Daniel Dubois has been told he needs to fight again before he rematches Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed crown.
Dubois was set to defend his IBF heavyweight title against Joseph Parker this weekend, but he fell ill on fight week and Martin Bakole stepped in at short notice.
‘Dynamite’ retained his belt as a result, and is now free to face Usyk in a potential second meeting for all four belts this year.
The pair met in a 2023 clash which saw Usyk stop Dubois, despite prior controversy with the Briton dropping the Ukrainian with what was deemed to be an illegal low blow.
But despite Dubois’ persistent calls for a sequel, former world champion Duke McKenzie believes he should reschedule his bout with Parker.
He said on talkSPORT’s White & Jordan: “That’s still going to be an attractive fight.
“It should happen, obviously it didn’t happen for the reasons that unfolded on fight week.
“But Dubois vs Parker should be the next one, unfortunately for Dubois he had to pull out.
“But he will be well again in due course, and they should rearrange that one and have it as the headline fight.
“In a nutshell it should be Parker, he’s earned that, he’s beaten Deontay Wilder and now the avoided Martin Bakole.
“They should ideally rearrange it, but from a business point of view I suppose it has to be Usyk as that is the money fight.
“Dubois has a score to settle Usyk and he thinks he can right that wrong, but in an ideal world, you’d let Parker get a shot at Dubois.
“Usyk could fight someone like an Agit Kabayel and then have the winners of them fights face each other.”
Usyk has himself stated on multiple occasions that he is ready to now fight Dubois.
The 38-year-old remains undefeated after two consecutive wins over Tyson Fury, but is coming to the back end of his boxing career.
Should Dubois instead face Parker, he could risk missing out on his revenge bid and a shot at the undisputed titles.
And it seems more likely that he would instead pursue the bigger showdown with Usyk, with promoter Frank Warren insisting it is still on the table.
And WBO president Gustavo Olivieri revealed that the organisation would not stand in the way of Usyk and Dubois facing again, even though Parker remains the WBO interim champion.
He added to talkSPORT.com: “The winner of Bakole-Parker will be mandatory for Usyk.
“The question is when will the mandatory will be enforced.
“It remains to be seen because of the existence of a rotation agreement (order of mandatories) between the sanction bodies.
“Most likely, the WBO is next in line, however, if a unification request (Usyk vs Dubois) is submitted to the Championship Committee, it would certainly be considered as unifications take precedence over mandatories and serve the best interests of boxing.”
