In agreeing to help save the co-main event in Saudi Arabia by facing replacement Martin Bakole, and then by stopping him in the second round in devastating fashion, Joseph Parker kept his side of the bargain for boxing’s paymasters.
Now he will have to wait to see if they keep theirs – and the signs are not promising for a New Zealander at the top of his game and near the end of his career.
Many close followers of professional boxing would have raised a metaphorical eyebrow at Daniel Dubois’ withdrawal 48 hours from the fight in Riyadh due to an apparent illness.
Cynics will suggest that Dubois, the IBF world heavyweight champion who looked sharp inside the ring during his public appearances in Riyadh but a little withdrawn out of it, did not like what he saw in a bulked-up and supremely confident Parker, who tipped the scales at a career-heaviest 121kg and finished off Bakole inside two rounds.
And the same goes for Dubois’ promoter Frank Warren, who is always going to have eyes on a rematch for his fighter against Oleksandr Usyk, the WBC, WBO and IBO undefeated world heavyweight champion.
For Dubois, a lucrative fight for the unified world championship is always going to trump a risky title eliminator in which his IBF belt is on the line.
And those cynics’ fears may have been realised by a video released by Queensberry, Warren’s company, which shows the Englishman being interviewed ahead of the Parker victory and which appears to show Warren all but arranging a fight between Dubois and Usyk behind Parker’s back.
The interview, by fight broadcaster DAZN, goes as follows: “Oleksandr Usyk has said to Ring Magazine this afternoon that he wants to fight Daniel Dubois. What are your thoughts?”
“Done,” Warren replies.
“Great news, Oleksandr Usyk, this fight is…” the interviewer says.
“Where is Oleksandr? Tell me where he is, I’ll take the contract to him now,” Warren says.
This is where the IBF organisation should step in and order Dubois to fight Parker before Usyk, of course.
Indeed, the IBF stripped Usyk of the IBF championship title after the Ukranian, who had become the first unified world heavyweight champion in a generation, beat (the allegedly now retired) Tyson Fury in Riyadh last year.
The dominant Kiwi claimed an emphatic second round victory in Saudi Arabia, knocking down Bakole with a right hook. (Source: Dazn) (Source: Supplied)
Usyk wanted the second fight against Fury, which he also won by decision, to also be for the undisputed world championship but the IBF had other ideas and ordered Dubois, the mandatory challenger, and Anthony Joshua to fight for it.
Dubois convincingly stopped Joshua last September to set up what was a mouth-watering clash against the rejuvenated Parker.
If the IBF is consistent, it will strip Dubois of his belt if he doesn’t agree to fight Parker next.
If so, a bout against Dubois would suddenly become far less appealing for Usyk, who was dropped by Dubois in their fight last year, only for the body shot knockdown to be controversially ruled a “low blow” by the referee.
In the always murky world of professional boxing, however, conventions or precedents are rarely followed.
It’s not difficult to feel for Parker, who now has four excellent victories in Riyadh on his resume, the last three against Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Bakole, three of the most feared punchers in the world. Since first becoming a world champion at the age of 24 in Auckland in 2016, Parker has never dodged a fight.
He believes it is his destiny to become a two-time world champion, but, at 33, time may be running out.
Similarly, it’s easy to feel for Agit Kabayel, who stopped Zhang on the undercard of the Parker fight today.
In his previous fight, also in Riyadh, the undefeated Kabayel upset the previously undefeated Frank Sanchez. Before that, he upset the giant Arslanbek Makhmudov. All three victories were by stoppage.
Today, after he beat Zhang with a body shot in the sixth round, Kabayel, who was himself knocked down in the fifth round, was asked who he would like to fight next – Parker, perhaps?
No, Kabayel said. I deserve a shot at a world title, he said. "I've earned it."
He’s right.
It would be of little surprise if Parker v Kabayel was next in Riyadh, and probably on a Usyk v Dubois undercard.
If so, it would be a fight of convenience for the paymasters and a disservice to both Parker and Kabayel – but especially Parker.
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