Daniel Dubois is weighing up a rematch with either Oleksandr Usyk or Anthony Joshua after being forced to pull out of his £7m world title defence against Joseph Parker.
IBF heavyweight champion Dubois was ruled out of the scheduled fight with Parker in Riyadh on Saturday at short notice after falling ill and his stand-in Martin Bakole lasted less than two rounds against the New Zealander.
The Londoner had been due to fight for the first time since defending his title with a crushing win over fellow Briton Joshua in September and previously lost a contentious clash with reigning WBO, WBA (Super) and WBO champion Usyk in 2023.
“You have to look at the next move and I think that will be either Usyk in an all-belt affair for the four belts or maybe AJ [Anthony Joshua]. We will have to work that out in the next week or so,” Dubois’s promoter Frank Warren told BBC 5 Live.
“We will talk through the options as a team and make a decision. Everyone’s view is important but the most important view is Daniel’s because he is the one getting into the ring and he makes the ultimate decision.”
Despite being called out by Parker, Usyk is keen for his next fight to be against Dubois so that he can become undisputed heavyweight champion for a second time. The Ukrainian was forced to vacate the IBF belt in June after beating Tyson Fury to unify the division.
Dubois was the beneficiary and rubber-stamped his title with a five-round demolition of Joshua three months later in front of a record crowd at Wembley. Joshua is targeting a third world crown after Fury’s retirement torpedoed his hopes of a long-awaited megafight between the pair.
Usyk has said he would be prepared to fight Dubois at Wembley, raising the prospect of another 90,000-plus crowd. “I want the next fight with Daniel Dubois, undisputed,” he said. “London, Riyadh Season, doesn’t matter. I’m ready.”
Dubois’s late withdrawal from the fight with Parker due to swollen glands is thought to have denied him around £7m, plus the lost cost of his preparations.
“If you don’t fight, you don’t get paid,” said Warren. “Imagine the cost of a training camp – booking places, setting the camp up, bringing the sparring partners in, nutritionists, chefs, trainers – and you don’t get paid.
“It’s a massive loss, you can’t insure it, if you do it costs a fortune to insure. It was an unbelievable purse he was getting for the fight but we are where we are: if you’re not well, you can’t fight.”