However, Britain's Dubois was forced to withdraw from the Parker fight on Thursday, which was set to co-headline the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 mega-card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Parker will instead defend his WBO interim heavyweight title against dangerous contender Martin Bakole on the show.

Daniel Dubois was forced to pull out of his fight against Joseph Parker due to illness. Dubois was set to take on Parker in the co-main event of the Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol 2 card on February 22.

Dubois was due to defend the IBF heavyweight title against Parker on Saturday, but the champion was pulled from the fight on two days’ notice due to illness. That led Bakole to step in, as the “most-avoided” heavyweight fights Parker in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Daniel Dubois was set to defend his IBF heavyweight title against Joseph Parker on Saturday, on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol rematch card in Saudi Arabia. Disaster struck on Thursday, after it was announced that Dubois was suffering from illness, which forced the champion out of the fight against Parker.

Oleksandr Usyk says he has two fights left in his career, and he wants his retirement bout to be against UFC champion Alex Pereira.

Parker tells Sky Sports that Daniel Dubois withdrawing from the fight was a reasonable thing to do and says he would do the same at this point in his career after he went through