Daniel Dubois ruled out of IBF title fight against Joseph Parker (Report)

Daniel Dubois will not be putting his IBF gold at stake against Joseph Parker this weekend.

Dubois was expected to collide with Parker inside Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday. The champion ended up falling ill, and initial reports revealed the fight was at risk. Ariel Helwani is now reporting that Dubois has indeed been ruled out of the planned title fight with Parker.

talkSPORT reported that replacement options such as Lawrence Okolie and David Adeleye were in consideration, but Helwani noted that it will be tough to give Parker a new opponent with the fight coming up in two days.

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What’s Next For Duobis?

Fans are now wondering what could be next for Daniel Dubois when he is healthy. If Parker doesn’t get a new opponent for Saturday, it’ll be interesting to see if his bout with Dubois gets rebooked. One can’t rule out the possibility of Parker being put on hold in favor of Dubois vs. Anthony Joshua 2. That scenario wouldn’t be ideal for Parker, who posed a credible threat to Dubois’ IBF title.

With Dubois vs. Parker now off the table, it’s another blow dealt to the Riyadh Season card. Matchroom Boxing’s Shakur Stevenson was set for a grudge match with rising star Floyd Schofield, but Schofield suffered an illness. Luckily for Stevenson, he was given a replacement opponent in Josh Padley.

This Saturday’s Riyadh Season card remains stacked with the big undisputed light heavyweight title rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. Vergil Ortiz Jr. will put his WBC interim super-welterweight gold at stake against Israil Madrimov.

Also set for the card will be a WBC middleweight title clash between champion Carlos Adames and Hamzah Sheeraz. Zhilei Zhang vs Agit Kabayel and Joshua Buatsi vs Callum Smith will also be featured on the show.

Beterbiev vs. Bivol 2 will air live on the DAZN streaming platform. The main fight card will begin airing live at 11 a.m. ET.