Boxing
Return from the edge: Can Joseph Parker overthrow Daniel Dubois for heavyweight?
Published
2 years agoon
Joseph Parker faced a long, tedious road back to the top, but the 33-year-old is in a better place than ever, when he tries to become a two-time heavyweight champion.
Since the winner of the WBO title, almost ten years ago with the victory of points on Andym Ruiz Jr. At a teenage age of 24, Parker was on a rollercoaster traveling, who saw him moved from unification against Anthony Joshua to, at some point, at some point, the fight to save his career. On Saturday he will face Daniel Dubois for the title of IBF in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
In 2018, the defeat of Joshua and Dillian Whyte – a competition that still incensed with the Parker camp after apparent headbut – saw how he rides to order.
The fight in 2021 with the Junior FA compatriot in Auckland was settled as a clash or contract. Parker won, but with an unconvincing performance, which was far from the best, about which he and everyone knew he could reach. After the consequence, he parted with coach Kevin Barry.
Although he insists that he never lost his faith, he admits that in recent years he has asked himself tough questions about himself with a lot of soul searching.
“To tell the truth, I always believed that I could do well in boxing again, but when you have a few failures and do not go towards you, you start asking questions,” Parker told reporters before fighting Dubois.
“I have never had any doubts and I never wanted to give up, but I knew that I had to make changes and I think that I had made the change that I had now was very, very nice.”
This change was the coach of Andy Lee.
Parker, by a close friend and someone whom he calls his brother, Tyson Fury, associated with Lee. Relationships from Fury and Lee changed Parker’s career. He entered, moving to Great Britain and even living with Lee at one stage.
“I think it was a great beginning from Andy and at the beginning it was great, incurring the basics,” explains Parker. “As a warrior, when you were in the game for a while and you start learning recent things, sometimes you leave from scratch. I think that [also] It was essential to get this friendship [with Andy]. “
The Irish and Modern Zealanders are in many respects strikingly similar. Affable and effortless, both people quickly indicate how much they hit their weight much above on the global sports scene.
As for the fight, Lee and Parker are one of the best who come from their countries. No wonder that they made such a sturdy connection. “You can only learn from yourself when you are very close and although we are friends outside the ring and we like to spend time and relax … When the time has come to train and when it is time to start a job, it is very different, it is very different , – said Parker.
Lee did not avoid some home truths about Parker’s performances after two fights with Derek Chisora, claiming that his recent fee tended to turn off during rounds. However, the bond was heavily created.
The progress was then detained in his works with a mistaken defeat with Joe Joyce.
Parker and his team were stunned after the fight, in the first and only knockout of his career. He was poorly beaten and back back on the heavyweight ladder. While Parker said little about it – not wanting to justify himself – the sources said ESPN that the Modern Zelander was so ailing on the night of the fight that in retrospect the fight should probably be delayed. Regardless of this, the damage was caused.
Wins on Jacek Massey and Faiga Opelo returned to the tracks in 2023. Fury manager, Spencer Brown, then organized Parker Fight in Saudi Arabia.
Although it was a much lower amount than Parker’s ponderous caliber, he would usually like to be as busy as possible to take rankings again. It also gave him a chance to impress Turka Alalshikh, He deals with the most powerful person in the ESPN combat sport.
This is what he did with Simon Kean’s effortless knockout.
Then it was great: Deontay Wilder.
Recorded by many Parker, he produced a clinical boxing display, annuling Wilder’s threats and showing extensive experience. Wilder’s victory was a breakthrough moment and he came when almost no one believed that he could do it.
Lee passionately defended Parker at a press conference after a fight, slamming the disrespect that was shown.
“We had to endure many things. Joshua-Wilder; The contract is over, “said Lee. “We have a miniature wardrobe, we have a miniature hotel room. He is at the top of the bill, he is the main event, former world champion. It’s about Wilder-Joshua.
“This man had to endure everything with it. He didn’t fall his head, he just got stuck again. “
The victory over Zhilei Zhang, where he perfectly made the Lee game plan and survived the two charming, confirmed his position as a perilous ponderous weight.
Finally, after he was in the ponderous desert, he has his reward.
There is an argument that Parker is overlooked again this week. Dubois is rightly a favorite and although he insisted that he did not overlook Parker, the way he jumped on the ring after winning Oleksandra Usyk nad Tyson Fury and called Ukrainian suggests that he has already had one eye for the future.
But after he went through, being weaker is exactly what Parker would prefer.
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Boxing
Gervonta Davis Seeks Redemption with Opportunity to Regain Old Belt: I Want Him on My Record
Published
12 hours agoon
October 1, 2026
Gervonta Davis is set to return to action in the new year and ‘Tank’ may well do so in an immediate world title challenge, with one fighter willing to offering him a shot at his old belt under one condition.
Davis has held titles at super-featherweight and super-lightweight but was most recently the WBA lightweight champion, until his prolonged stretch of inactivity – since March 2025 – caused the Baltimore knockout artist to be stripped of his world title.
Instead, the 31-year-old has been named as the WBA’s ‘champion-in-recess’ in the 135lb division, with Floyd Schofield and Lucas Bahdi scheduled to compete for the full vacant WBA crown next weekend in Chicago.
Speaking ahead of that fight, Schofield told Fight Hub TV that he would be more than willing to defend the title against Davis, if he is able to overcome Bahdi and become the new lightweight world champion at the age of just 24 years old.
“I’m not going to lie. If Tank did want to come back and was like, ‘I want that fight and I want that belt back,’ I have no problem with it because he is the so-called boogeyman.
“Like I have always been saying, if you get Tank on your record, if you beat Tank, then there is not a lot that people can say.
“Until then, I am looking to collect all of the belts at 135lbs and to then go on to 140lbs.”
Schofield-Bahdi will take place at the Wintrust Arena on Saturday, October 10, with Ricardo Sandoval defending his unified WBC and WBA flyweight world titles against fellow Mexican Sergio Mendoza Cordova in the co-main event.
Boxing
Lennox Lewis Shares Verdict on Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua After Friendly Press Conference
Published
12 hours agoon
October 1, 2026
Either Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua will join Lennox Lewis as the second three-time heavyweight world champion from the UK when they collide in later this year, and ‘The Lion’ has now updated his prediction for the contest.
After prolonged negotiations and their respective ‘warm-up’ bouts against Mariusz Wach and Kristian PrengaFury and Joshua are finally set to enter the ring against each other. Wednesday’s launch press conference saw the two men come face to face for the first time, following what was a surprisingly friendly affair.
Having witnessed those fights back in July, Lewis admitted that he was favouring ‘The Gypsy King’ to come out on top in the long-awaited bout, believing his two most recent showings to be more impressive than those of Joshua, as per DAZN.
“Fury is closer but both are shadows of their former selves.I’dside with Fury,
“He showed me more in his two fights [against Arslanbek Makhmudov and Wach] than Joshua has recently. He boxed a YouTuber [Jake Paul]now boxed a guy [Prenga] who knocked him down twice and next faces Fury? That’s a big step up.”
However, at the launch press conference for the fight between the duo – which will now be for the WBA (Super) heavyweight world title – Lewis declared that the bout will be determined by punch accuracy.
“For me, the most accurate puncher out of the both of them [will win]. Tyson is an accurate puncher and ‘AJ’ throws a great one-two.
“He has caught many people with the one-two. That is his most accurate combination, to me.”
Fury-Joshua will take place at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on December 11, with Amir Khan now being linked to an appearance in the co-main event.
Boxing
Simon Jordan Confronts Rick Reeno on Dana Whites Leadership in MMA
Published
15 hours agoon
October 1, 2026
Simon Jordan dismissed Rick Reeno’s praise of Dana White as the king of combat sports promoters, insisting that the UFC boss’s corporate profits mean little to the athletes risking their health in the ring.
The disagreement exposed two different measures of success: building a lucrative promotion and ensuring the fighters receive a fair share of what they generate.
Reeno, The Ring’s chief executive, chose White over Eddie Hearn when asked who belonged at the top of the promotional business. He pointed to the UFC’s growth and the strength of a brand that, for many viewers, has become interchangeable with MMA itself.
Jordan accepted White’s achievements in that sport but rejected the comparison within boxing.
“If we’re talking about in the boxing world, Eddie Hearn is light years above Dana White in the boxing world,” Jordan told talkSPORT. “Whatever you say about Hearn, and I have lots to say about him, he will pay his fighters. He will pay his fighters fairly. And he will pay them promptly.”
Evaluating Dana White’s boxing venture requires looking past his promotional hype. A promoter can draw massive crowds while quietly shortchanging the talent in the ring.
Reeno countered that every promoter wants to make money. He also argued that some MMA fighters were earning $50 fighting in bars before the UFC created greater opportunities.
That defense explains the value of building a market. It leaves Jordan’s question about compensation unanswered. What fighters earned before a business became successful does not settle what they should receive once it secures major commercial deals.
Jordan’s argument carries flaws as well. Eddie Hearn holds decades of boxing experience, yet that background does not automatically guarantee he will outmaneuver White moving forward.
Reeno highlighted White’s ability to tap directly into UFC and WWE audiences to build a Tyson Fury versus Anthony Joshua fight. That crossover audience provides massive leverage.
The real issue centers on how much money actually trickles down to the fighters. Reeno argued that Dana White knows how to expand commercial revenue better than anyone else. Jordan questioned if revenue growth by itself justifies giving him top billing.

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Boxing 24/7 Wire
Boxing247.com is an independent boxing news publication covering the sport since 2001. It provides original reporting, fight analysis, schedules, results, and informed coverage of major fighters and events worldwide, backed by more than 25 years of professional boxing journalism.
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