What’s Next For Joseph Parker?
Joseph Parker stopped Martin Bakole in the second round last weekend on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol card, raising questions about his next steps.
Parker secured a third win on the spin against a big name, having previously beaten Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang. Bakole was a last-minute replacement after Parker’s initial opponent, Daniel Dubois, withdrew with an illness. The victory made Parker the WBO Interim Heavyweight Champion. This puts him in a position to fight Oleksandr Usyk for the full title. But Usyk has said that he wants to fight Dubois next. Dubois has the IBF Heavyweight Title, meaning the fight with Usyk would be for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship.
Parker And Usyk
Usyk has already been undisputed as a heavyweight, having beaten Tyson Fury. A victory over Dubois makes him a two-time undisputed champion at heavyweight, putting him down as one of the best fighters of all time. That means Parker may decide to pursue another bout in the meantime. He has been linked with a fight against Anthony Joshua. Joshua was knocked out by Dubois in his last fight, as he missed out on becoming the IBF Heavyweight Champion. Joshua has previously faced Parker, having beaten him to secure the Kiwi’s WBO Heavyweight Title.
But since then, Parker’s form has been impressive, while Joshua appears to have suffered a drop in confidence after the Dubois defeat. Parker has made it clear that he wants to fight for world titles. A win over the former unified heavyweight champion would put an impressive name on his resume and boost his credentials for getting an eventual fight against Usyk. If that fight does not happen, there is also the alternative of facing Agit Kabayel. Kabayel stopped Zhang in his last fight in the sixth round after a body attack. That extended his record to 26-0. That leaves Parker with plenty of options to consider moving forward.
Parker Reacts
“I think there’s going to be a fight with Usyk and Dubois lined up because everyone is talking about it now. Possibly I’ll have one more fight before I can fight for the championship of the world. It sucks not fighting for the world championship. Since I lost it in 2018, I’ve been working so hard to get back to fighting for the title. I’ve had heaps of ups and downs and times when people said I should have stopped and given up.
“To get the chance to fight for it, and then it vanishes in front of you two days before the fight… At the time, I didn’t care because I was focused on the fight date and staying switched on for whoever was going to be in front of me, but now the fight is done, it doesn’t feel right. I feel a bit angry. How can you set up this unification fight with Usyk and Dubois when he had a fight locked in with me? It should be that I fight Dubois now I’ve beaten Bakole,” Parker said
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