Joseph Parker on course to be career heaviest for Daniel Dubois IBF world championship fight

Joseph Parker is on course to come in a career heaviest for Saturday’s world title fight with Daniel Dubois.

Parker challenges Dubois for the IBF heavyweight world championship on the Riyadh Season event, live on Sky Sports Box Office.

Parker, who has fought Anthony Joshua previously in his career, is a former world champion looking to reclaim that status when he fights this Saturday.

London’s Dubois is a formidable power puncher. But Parker has been tailoring his preparation specifically to handle the Briton’s strength and has been bulking himself up for this contest.

Parker’s trainer, Andy Lee revealed to Sky Sports News: “He will be heavy, probably a career heaviest but it hasn’t affected his speed, hand speed, or his mobility and he’s certainly punching harder, I can feel it on the pads. So it’s been a good move for him.

“I don’t buy into the adage, if you’re lighter, you move faster. If you’re lighter you get moved faster, whereas if you’ve got some weight behind you, you’re going to hold your feet, hold your ground more. You’re a bit stronger in the clinches. It’s a physical game we’re in here. The stronger the better.”

Parker is adamant: “My endurance is great, power is great, speed is great.

“I’ve been working on power, speed and endurance, technique, skills and combinations. Everything is on point. It’s just about going out there and putting it on display.”

Parker’s previous career heaviest was the 255¼lbs he scaled against Joe Joyce, his most recent defeat with Joyce knocking him out in 11 rounds in 2022.

Recently though Parker has shown how well he can perform against devasting punchers, beating both Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang in his last two fights.

“I like being the challenger. I like the position we’re in. Most of the time we are the underdog. We just want to go about our work and get that win,” Parker told Sky Sports News.

“Our plan is to continue that success on Saturday night. We’ve faced big punchers, it’s nothing new. Throughout my career I’ve faced all sorts of fighters: punchers, fighters who move, fighters with a lot of speed. It’s about the gameplan.

“It’s pretty simple. Go out there, bang, bang, bang, finish the fight.”

Daniel Dubois vs Joseph Parker and the Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol rematch will be live on Saturday February 22 on Sky Sports Box Office. Book now!