Parker's team will be wary about heavyweight unification bout claim
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.
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Otago Daily Times
21 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
‘Son of Queenstown' remembered
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NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
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1News
2 days ago
- 1News
Lawson says recent results 'not enough', needs more good races
Kiwi F1 driver Liam Lawson is hoping to finish with more points when he lines up for this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix. The 23-year-old Racing Bulls put in a great performance at Monday's Belgian Grand Prix, making it into Q3 and crossing the finish line in eighth – bagging four points in a race marred by mixed conditions and delays. Following the race, Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane said Lawson had a 'near-perfect race'. Ahead of Monday's race at the Hungaroring, Lawson said, in the context of the whole season so far, of which he has scored points in three races: "It's not enough. 'We need to be doing it on nearly every weekend if that's the target,' he said. ADVERTISEMENT 'To have two or three of those races over the first half of the season is not enough. So obviously, going forward to the second half of the year, we're trying to replicate this more.' He said the biggest challenge faced by teams and drivers this year was the closeness of the grid. Liam Lawson of New Zealand driving the (30) Visa Cash App Racing Bulls VCARB 02 on track at Silverstone (Source: Getty) Lawson's best Q3 lap in Belgium was just over 0.1 seconds slower than Williams driver Alex Albon's, which landed him in fifth. The pace of the cars this season wasn't just influencing qualifying, Lawson said, but also race day. 'Even on tracks that are maybe easier to overtake, they're sort of difficult because you don't have a three, four, or five-tenth pace advantage, you have a one or two-tenth pace advantage.' It meant qualifying was now even more critical, which Lawson admitted had been a struggle for him this year. 'I think where our weekends are falling away, at least on my side, has been normally in an average qualifying. ADVERTISEMENT 'The main target is just extracting everything I think through practice on the weekends, making sure we have the car in the best place going into qualifying and then for me as well getting everything out of it and just doing a better job honestly.'' Hungary also marks the final race before the summer break – meaning Lawson would have finished his first half-season as a full-time driver. Reflecting on the season so far, Lawson said he was starting to find some stability after a 'rocky' and 'unexpected' start – adjusting to a new team after being dropped by Red Bull after just two races. 'We're in a better place now. But I think, in general, the speed's been there most of the year and it's nice that we're able to get a couple of good results. 'But as I said, I think as a whole we need to be doing that more. To have two or three of those races over the first half of the season is not enough.' Lawson is back on track at 11.30pm on Friday night (NZ time) for the first practice session of the weekend. Qualifying starts at 2am on Sunday, and it's lights out at 1am on Monday for the race.
