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Joseph Parker has a plan. He is determined to beat Daniel Dubois, become a two-time heavyweight champion and ultimately box for the undisputed world heavyweight title.

Parker will challenge Dubois for the IBF title in February, but first Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury will box for the WBC, WBO and WBA heavyweight world championships in their December 21 rematch, live on Sky Sports Box Office.

Promoter Frank Warren has suggested that Dubois could face the Usyk vs Fury 2 winner in 2025, but Parker and his team are convinced that the New Zealander can upset the IBF champion.

You look at the names on his resume, names like Carlos Takam, Andy Ruiz Jr, Derek Chisora twice, Dillian Whyte, Anthony Joshua, Joe Joyce, Zhilei Zhang and Deontay Wilder, he’s probably fought hundreds more rounds at the highest level than Daniel Dubois has,” Parker’s promoter David Higgins told Sky Sports.

“He’s only 32 years old but he’s a veteran. So I think we’ve got the edge in terms of experience under pressure at that level. Obviously Joseph’s on the up and at his peak coming off two stunning victories over Deontay Wilder and Zhang.”

“Although we think Joshua might have made Dubois look better than he is. That wasn’t Anthony Joshua at his best. That was an Anthony Joshua that looked a bit tentative and didn’t really want to be there. Certainly made Dubois look a formidable force.

“We think Joseph will be a handful for Dubois and will win on the night.”

Parker is determined to win and then eventually fight for all the belts that Usyk and Fury will contest later this month.

BOXING

Update!!!: “Why Anthony Joshua wants Heavyweight Rematch against Daniel Dubois Is this the Fight Boxing Fans Can’t Miss!”

The IBF will permit their heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois to rematch Anthony Joshua. But there is a deadline on it.

A Dubois vs Joshua would have to happen before a date in April of next year.

Dubois knocked out Joshua last month at Wembley Stadium in sensational style to defend the title.

For Dubois, who was elevated from Interim titlist to world champion prior to that fight, the contest with Joshua was actually a mandatory title defence.

Under the IBF’s rules, Dubois now has nine months within which he can make a voluntary defence, opening the door for a Joshua rematch, as long as it happens by April 22.

Rule 5.A.2 of the IBF’s regulations regarding the heavyweight division states that “all optional defences, and any and all other bouts, by a champion shall be concluded at least 60 days prior to the date the champion’s mandatory is due”.

After this date, Dubois must fulfil a mandatory title defence, which is likely to be against the winner of Martin Bakole’s IBF final eliminator with Agit Kabayel.

BOXING

What happens next for Fury and Usyk?

Usyk’s win takes him to 23-0 with 14 knockouts and extends one of the all-time best careers, which includes Olympic gold and undisputed champion at cruiserweight.

“He’s a great fighter, it’s a great performance,” Usyk, 37, said of Fury, who was unbeaten in 35 fights until he lost their four-belt unification bout in May.

“Unbelievable 24 rounds for my career.”

Tyson Fury’s tactics were sound and his performance impressive. The attempt to dominate the centre of the ring and push Oleksandr Usyk back with his jab ultimately failed, however. The champion from Ukraine used his superior pace and skill to round Fury’s attack and defense

Path for Usyk and Fury unclear

Usyk may well just decide to retire – he’s 37, at the top of his game, he’s beaten Tyson Fury twice, Anthony Joshua twice, he’s beaten Dubois.

It will be interesting to see what Fury does next after that devastating blow. There are a lot of big money fights out there for him, but he hardly needs the money and this defeat will hurt.

BOXING

Why they’re a serious threat to Jake Paul

After weeks of speculation, Jake Paul has finally announced his return to the squared circle. The Problem Child took to his ‘X’ and set July 5th as the date of his comeback. He last fought on November 15 against Mike Tyson in Texas and this time, he will wander off to New York for his next challenge.

The Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight was historic and became the most-watched boxing match of all time with more than 108 million viewers tuning in live to watch the fight, even shattering Canelo Alvarez’s gate revenue record with an astounding $18.1 million. With the fight, The Problem Child became a dream opponent for fighters because of the payday he could offer them. No one in the business can match the amount of eyeballs he is attracting to the sports. Even mainstream boxers like Artur Beterbiev and Daniel Dubois emerged to take a shot at the self-proclaimed ‘El Gallo.’ However, till now, no opponent has been confirmed for the July 5 match.

That was until Mike Majlak declared Jake Paul’s next fight as “bigger than the Tyson fight” on the Impaulsive podcast with Logan Paul chiming in “yeah” in response to a question by the co-host about who the Problem Child was fighting next. Majlak even went as far as to term it the “craziest thing of all time,” sending fans’ imagination into overdrive.

BOXING

Is This the End? Why Frank Warren Wants Derek Chisora to Stop at 50 Fights

THIS Saturday night Derek Chisora fights for the final time in the UK when he faces Otto Wallin at the Co-op Arena in Manchester.

The veteran heavyweight has never been one to shy away from tough fights and promoter Frank Warren admitted that Wallin will be another significant test.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani and Ade Oladipo on DAZN Boxing, Warren said: “He’s got his hands full, Otto Wallin on his day can give Derek a lot of problems, he can be an awkward customer so it’s going to be an interesting fight.

“For Derek this is his last fight in the UK, so we called it ‘The Last Dance’, and he’ll want to go out on a high and for Wallin it’s a fight he cannot afford to lose or he becomes a stepping stone for up-and-coming young fighters.”

“His moniker is ‘War’ and that’s what you get every time he goes in the ring, says Warren.

“He doesn’t leave anything outside it’s all left in the ring, and the fans love him for it.”

Chisora has 13 losses on his record but has barely left a stone unturned in the heavyweight division fighting huge names including, Tyson Fury, Oleksander Usyk, Joseph Parker and Vitali Klitschko to name a few.

The 41-year-old is familiar with being the underdog and is still capable of surprising fans, as he did in his last fight with Joe Joyce.

Warren said: “His last fight he went in again as an underdog and it was a cracking fight and up until the stoppage there was nothing in it, and I think we will get something on Saturday similar to that because it’s the way he fights.”

The bout with Joyce was dubbed a ‘slug fest’ but that is nothing derogatory of the skill shown by both fighters.

Chisora dispelled the calls for his retirement with a typical gutsy display, dropping Joyce in the ninth and demonstrating that nobody is safe if he drags them into a dog fight.

Warren even had doubts over Chisora continuing in the sport, but declared that the 50^th fight, which is planned for this summer, needs to be his last

BOXING

“Evander Holyfield Reveals the Hardest Punch He Ever Took—And It Wasn’t Tyson or Lennox Lewis”

During an illustrious career stretching from 1984 to 2011, ‘The Real Deal’ achieved undisputed supremacy in the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions.

He unified all the major cruiserweight belts in 1988 by dispatching Cuban technician Carlos de Leon and then did the same at heavyweight two years later when he flattened Buster Douglas at the Convention Hall in Atlantic City.

In the first defence of his undisputed heavyweight crown in April 1991, Holyfield defeated George Foreman over the distance in a fight billed ‘The Battle of the Ages’.

At the time, Foreman was 42 years old and was fighting for the heavyweight world titles for the first time since making a miraculous return to the ring in 1987 following a ten-year hiatus.

Despite being well past his best, Foreman still possessed an almighty punch, which Holyfield can attest to.

BOXING

Khalilah Ali Backs Claressa Shields for Epic Showdown with Laila Ali—Is This the Fight Fans Have Been Waiting For?

Claressa Shields has the medals and the belts. Laila Ali has the name.

Shields’ decorated resume and Ali’s legendary name have placed them on opposite sides of a noisy debate, a trash-talking confrontation that Laila’s famous father mastered during a heavyweight reign remembered for Muhammad Ali’s fast hands and faster words.

Shiields says her three division belts and two Olympic gold medals make her the GWOAT (Greatest Woman of All Time). No way, says the daughter of the GOAT (Greatest of All Time).

Laila Ali, now 42, is quick to remind Shields, 24, that she was unbeaten. She went 24-0, scoring 21 knockouts, as a super middleweight between 1999 and 2007. Shields, also unbeaten, has two knockouts in 10 fights.

“First of all, she could never beat me,’’ Ali said late last week on Sway in the Morning, a Sirius XM show featuring talk on music and culture. “Let me get that really straight right now. Not simply because she’s not strong enough, because I would definitely knock her out, because she’s not talented enough.

“You’re talented. You can box. You can throw those hard punches. But there’s a sweet science to boxing. The reason you have not been able to knock out the opponents that you have faced, I can totally see it.”

Shields, never shy, seized on the opportunity to respond, telling TMZ Sunday that Ali built her record against “soccer moms and probably strippers.’’

Shields suggested that women’s boxing has changed. She said she faces real fighters.

“Let’s just keep it honest,’’ said Shields, who defeated Ivana Habazin by a unanimous decision to win a junior middleweight title on Jan. 10. “Don’t say that I’m not talented, because I’m the most talented female fighter there has been in the history of boxing. Laila Ali is all bark, no bite. If a girl call me out, I answer.’’

Shields also urged Laila Ali to make a comeback. Their respective nicknames, “T-Rex” and “She Bee Stingin’”, might look good on a fight poster.

“We can make it happen if she really wants to make it happen,” Shields said.

Shields said the winner would get $10 million and the loser $5 million. But it’s not clear where that money would come from.

BOXING

“2025 Boxing Showdowns: Beterbiev vs. Bivol & Tank Davis vs. Lamont Roach—Who Will Reign Supreme?”

The new year has a growing number of events set for the first few months. Many of the sport’s biggest names already have fights on the 2025 calendar, including several members of the pound-for-pound elite.

Naoya Inoue, the undisputed junior featherweight champion and pound-for-pound elite fighter, was in action on Jan. 24 when he defended his four world titles against Ye Joon Kim. Inoue was originally scheduled to face Sam Goodman on Christmas Eve, but Goodman suffered a cut in training camp and the fight was postponed. Goodman then suffered another cut ahead of the rescheduled Jan. 24 date and was removed from the fight altogether. As expected, Inoue made quick work of Kim to kick off 2025 with a bang.

Business further picked up in February. On Feb. 1, two of boxing’s brightest young stars, David Benavidez and David Morrell, clashed with major a potential major future opportunity on the line. Benavidez dominated the action to take a unanimous decision win and is now in line to face the winner of a Feb. 22 rematch between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. Beterbiev edged out Bivol in their first meeting to become undisputed champion and is looking to repeat that feat in Saudi Arabia.

Big names are on the schedule in the coming, with Gervonta Davis, arguably “the face of boxing,” defending his WBA lightweight title against Lamont Roach Jr. Exciting Japanese star Junto Nakatani puts his WBC bantamweight title on the line against David Cuellar on Feb. 24 and Sebastian Fundora will defend his unified junior lightweight titles against Chordale Booker on March 22.

Take a look at the calendar for 2025 below.

Note: This will be updated constantly with changes and additions.

2025 upcoming boxing schedule

DATE	LOCATION	MAIN EVENT	WEIGHTCLASS/TITLE	NETWORK
Feb. 8	Manchester, England	Derek Chisora vs. Otto Wallin	Heavyweights	TBA
Feb. 14	New York City	Denys Berinchyk (c) vs. Keyshawn Davis	WBO lightweight title	ESPN
Feb. 15	Anaheim, California	Oscar Duarte vs. Regis Prograis	Junior welterweights	DAZN
Feb. 15	Manchester, England	Jack Catterall vs. Arnold Barboza Jr.	Vacant WBO junior welterweight interim title	DAZN
Feb. 22	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	Artur Beterbiev (c) vs. Dmitry Bivol	Undisputed light heavyweight championship	PPV
Feb. 24	Tokyo	Junto Nakatani (c) vs. David Cuellar	WBC bantamweight title	ESPN+
March 1	Las Vegas	Gervonta Davis (c) vs. Lamont Roach Jr.	WBA lightweight title	PPV
March 7	London	Natasha Jonas (c) vs. Lauren Price (c)	Unified welterweight title	Peacock
March 12	Sidney, Australia	Keith Thurman vs. Brock Jarvis	junior middleweight	TBA
March 15	Liverpool, England	Nick Ball vs. TJ Doheny	WBA featherweight title	TBA
March 22	Las Vegas	Sebastian Fundora (c) vs. Chordale Booker	Unified junior lightweight title	Prime Video
March 29	Cancun, Mexico	William Zepeda vs. Tevin Farmer	Lightweights	DAZN
April 12	Atlantic City, New Jersey	Jaron Ennis (c) vs. Eimantas Stanionis (c)	Unified welterweight title	DAZN
April 26	London	Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn	Middleweights	TBA

BOXING

“Usyk Takes the Crown: See Who Else Made the 2024 Boxing Writers Association of America Top Picks!”

The Boxing Writers Association of America released the results of its annual awards naming the best boxer, fight, trainer and manager of 2024, as well as several supporting honors.

Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, who defeated Tyson Fury twice in 2024, was named the BWAA Sugar Ray Robinson Fighter of the Year.
Usyk also took part in what may be the BWAA’s other most prestigious award, the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier Fight of the Year, which went to his first meeting with Fury, held on May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Eddie Futch Trainer of the Year award went to Robert Garcia, who runs his boxing academy in Oxnard, California. In 2024, Garcia guided rising pound-for-pound super flyweight star Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and new interim super welterweight champion Vergil Ortiz Jr., among others.

Egis Klimas was named BWAA Cus D’Amato Manager of the Year. Klimas manages the careers of Usyk and Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Other 2024 BWAA award winners include Bruce Silverglade (Nice Guy); Marv Albert (Broadcasting); Brad Goodman (Meritorious Service); Prichard Colon (Courage to Overcome Adversity).

BOXING

“Shock Twist: Top Heavyweight Who Faced Joshua & Klitschko Has 10 Years of Results Reversed!”

A retired heavyweight who faced both Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko is facing the prospect of having a decade of results overturned after testing positive for a banned substance. Alexander Povetkin has reportedly had 10-years worth of accomplishments in the ring wiped from his record, which would include his victories against David Price, Carlos Takam, Mike Perez and Dillian Whyte.

The 45-year-old faced Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium in September 2018, pushing the Brit all the way until he suffered a 7th-round knockout defeat to lose out on the chance at becoming the unified WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion. He had also lost in a previous title tilt against Klitschko.

Povetkin secured a monumental upset victory over Whyte in August 2020, knocking ‘The Bodysnatcher’ out with a crushing left uppercut in the 5th-round.

They went on to face one another in a rematch seven months later, with Whyte gaining his revenge over the Russian with a 4th-round stoppage. The Russian has not fought since that defeat to Whyte, announcing his retirement from the sport in 2021 at the age of 41. Povetkin said a number of ‘re-occuring injuries’ led to him making this decision.