Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter Alexander Krassyuk believes Joseph Parker will put an end to Turki Alalshikh’s plans.
The chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority is hoping to stage a rematch between Usyk and Dubois next year provided ‘Triple D’ gets through Parker on February 22.
Usyk is left with limited options for his next outing after clearing out the division but Dubois’ recent career revival, which has seen the Brit claim the IBF heavyweight title is enough to warrant a second crack at the Ukrainian in many people’s eyes.
Dubois was knocked out by Usyk in the ninth round last year but a trio of destructive stoppage wins over Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua have instilled belief in some members of the boxing community that he could cause Usyk problems.
talkSPORT’s Simon Jordan believes the new version of Dubois is more than capable of toppling Usyk from his throne.
However, Krassyuk doesn’t think Dubois can beat Parker let alone his fighter.
“I think Dubois has a very tough opponent in front of him because my bet is with Joseph Parker,” Krassyuk told talkSPORT when asked whether he thinks Usyk vs Dubois will come next.
Parker takes on Dubois in the co-feature attraction of a stacked Riyadh Season card, headlined by a rematch between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev for all four belts at light heavyweight.
The Kiwi, like Dubois, is on a massive resurgence following defeat at the hand of Joe Joyce in 2022.
Parker has won five straight fights including notable wins over massive punchers Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang.
At present, he is the WBO interim champion, although the major sanctioning body’s newly appointed president Gustavo Olivieri has confirmed to talkSPORT.com that he will be stripped of the title once the opening bell rings.
The WBO’s rules state that interim champions cannot unify their belt with a world title from another organisation, so Parker will automatically give up his red and gold strap to challenge for the IBF title.
If he wins then Parker will likely jump the queue and take on WBA, WBO and WBC champion Usyk in an undisputed clash.
The only reason the IBF title is currently in Dubois’ possession is because Usyk relinquished the strap.
Usyk unified all the belts by beating Fury in May and was ordered to box IBF mandatory Dubois thereafter.
‘The Cat’ was unable to answer the call due to his contracted rematch with Fury.
And so, Dubois was elevated from interim to full IBF world champion.
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