The International Boxing Federation’s (IBF) world heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois will defend his title against Joseph Parker on February 22 in Riyadh, event organisers in Saudi Arabia have confirmed.
The fight, announced Tuesday, will be the co-main event for the undisputed world light heavyweight title rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol in a seven-bout card announced by Turki Alalshikh, the head of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority.
Dubois, who was awarded the belt in June after then-undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine relinquished it, made his first successful defence against fellow British boxer Anthony Joshua on September 21.
The 27-year-old from London will face New Zealand’s Parker, the World Boxing Organization’s (WBO) interim heavyweight champion, in a bid to keep the title and raise his pedigree as the heavyweight champion.
The fight is part of the Riyadh Season event titled The Last Crescendo, which will be headlined by the rematch between Canadian-Russian fighter Beterbiev and Russian boxer Bivol for the world light heavyweight title.
Beterbiev beat Bivol by a majority decision in October.
Alalshikh termed the fight night in the Saudi capital “one of the greatest cards ever” in his announcement on X.
The 1.96m (Six feet, five inches) Dubois has an imposing professional record with 22 wins from 24 fights.
In a defiant outburst upon beating his more famous opponent Joshua at Wembley Stadium, Dubois reacted to the pro-Joshua crowd by bellowing, “Are you not entertained?”
“I’m a gladiator,” he said. “I’m a warrior to the bitter end. I want to go to the top level of this game and reach my full potential. Behind the scenes, I’ve been working hard, with all my family and my team. They’ve all helped me.”
“I’m not going to stop until I reach my full potential.”
Immediately after the fight, Parker called out Dubois to challenge him for a fight. Parker, who has won his last four fights, suggested he face Dubois, with the winner then taking on the victor of Usyk vs Fury for the undisputed title.
Usyk vacated the IBF title just five weeks after becoming the first fighter to unify the belts in nearly 25 years. Usyk will face Tyson Fury, whom he beat in a split decision on May 18, in a rematch for the WBA, WBO and WBC belts on December 21 in Riyadh.
The main event for the February 22 fight night will see fierce rivals Beterbiev and Bivol come face to face after four months.
Their last bout saw two ringside judges score the fight 115-113 and 116-112 to Beterbiev, while the third called it tied at 114-114.
Both men were undefeated before the October fight, with Bivol holding the WBA belt and Beterbiev the reigning WBC, WBO and IBF champion.
The last undisputed light heavyweight champion was American Roy Jones Jr, who beat Reggie Johnson to unify the WBA, WBC and IBF belts in 1999.
