Daniel Dubois will put his IBF world heavyweight title on the line against Joseph Parker on Feb. 22 in Saudi Arabia, it has been confirmed.
The bout will form part of a highly anticipated card in Riyadh.
Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) beat Anthony Joshua with a brutal knockout in September in front of 96,000 fans at London’s Wembley Stadium to win the belt.
Dubois stunned the boxing world by dropping Joshua in Rounds 1,3 and 4 before winning with an emphatic finish in Round 5. Various options had been considered for his next fight, while Dubois himself also called out Jake Paul after his win over Mike Tyson.
While a rematch with Joshua was also floated in the immediate aftermath of their fight, New Zealander Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) will now get a shot at taking the title off Dubois.
Parker’s stock has been on the rise in recent months having earned a convincing win over Deontay Wilder in December 2023 before going on to beat Zhilei Zhang in March.
Those victories have propelled him up the heavyweight pecking order again and established him as a leading contender for a title fight.
Parker is a former world champion himself, having won the WBO title in 2016, beating Mexican Andy Ruiz before he lost to Joshua in 2018, becoming the first fighter to take the Brit the distance in the process.
His only other defeats came against Dillian Whyte in 2018 and Joe Joyce in 2022.