Joseph Parker believes IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois may mentally quit if their fight is too hard for him on February 22nd in Riyadh.
He sees Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) as the type of fighter who is okay when he’s doing well but falls apart when faced with resistance and adversity.
Quitters Mentality?
Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) accurately describes Dubois’s (22-2, 21 KOs) psychological profile, which also fits nicely with Anthony Joshua’s. Both have learned helplessness and lack confidence when handling combat situations that go against them, a quitter mentality.
We saw that with Dubois quitting against Oleksandr Usyk and Joe Joyce, which were both winnable fights for him if he’d stayed composed and followed instructions from his corner.
It may not matter that Dubois can’t handle the stress of tough fights because he’s very likely to be on top the entire contest against the 33-year-old Parker. The 27-year-old Dubois is in the prime of his career, coming off a huge fifth-round knockout of AJ, and he could destroy Prker within two or three rounds if he lands his shots.
Mental Fortitude Questioned
“If it gets too hard, he will look for a way out. But if it’s going his way, he’ll keep going,” said Joseph Parker to Sky Sports Boxing about his belief Daniel Dubois may mentally crumble if the fight is too difficult for him on February 22nd.
“It’s my job to go out there and offset what he’s going to bring and follow my game plan. In boxing they always try and set up big fights in the future. If he is trying to set that up, he has to get past me first,” Parker said.
Parker has won his last five fights and looked good, but he’s not fought anyone on the level of Dubois. Parker defeated 41-year-old Zhilei Zhang and 39-year-old Deontay Wilder in his last two fights. Zhang would have won easily if he hadn’t gassed out after five rounds. He dropped Parker in rounds three and eight with shots.
However, Zhang was too heavy at 291 lbs for him to maintain any kind of pace in the fight, and this allowed Parker to win a close, questionable 12-round majority victory. I watched the fight and had Zhang winning, but the judges liked Parker’s activity. He was the more energetic of the two.
Parker’s fragile chin may betray him against Parker if he can land some big shots on him early in the contest. The punches that got Joshua in trouble in the first round against Dubois would likely be too much for Parker.
Last Updated on 02/08/2025
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