Daniel Dubois‘ reaction to his fight with Joseph Parker being cancelled has been revealed.
Dubois was set to defend his IBF heavyweight title against Parker in Riyadh this weekend, but on Thursday he had to pull out of the fight due to illness.
Parker will instead take on top heavyweight contender Martin Bakole, who has taken the fight on 48 hours notice and did not even arrive into Saudi Arabia until the early hours of Saturday morning.
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It would have been the latest IBF title defence for Dubois following his destructive knockout win over Anthony Joshua in September, and his promoter Frank Warren revealed at the weigh-in just what ‘DDD’ made of having to withdraw from Saturday’s fight.
“Daniel wasn’t feeling good. He was given some medication and told to wait overnight and he didn’t feel any better. The British Boxing Board of Control doctor saw him and immediately said he can’t fight.
“He was absolutely gutted, so much so he said ‘why did we call the doctor?’ This is boxing at the highest level. You can’t have guys going into significant fights like this if you’re not right. You can’t do it. You don’t get another option.
“How many times do we hear fighters say after fights say ‘I went into that fight with a bad hand, or my leg hurt.’ It’s irrelevant. It means nothing to me that. I want to know before. Live to fight another day, that’s the most important thing.”
What the future now holds for Dubois is currently unknown, but he could be set for an undisputed heavyweight title showdown with Oleksandr Usyk after the Ukrainian announced that he wants to face ‘DDD’ next.
