Appreciating Joseph Parker

On February 22, Joseph Parker is set to battle Daniel Dubois – and if he wins, the soon-to-be 33-year-old could set himself up for a blockbuster showdown with Oleksandr Usyk.

Beyond that, though, we feel as if boxing fans need to take some time to stop and appreciate what Joseph Parker has achieved in his career thus far. In many ways, he feels like the boxing equivalent of mixed martial arts star Robert Whittaker. He’s been through a variety of setbacks throughout the course of his career, and yet, you could argue that he’s only just about to enter his prime.

He currently holds a record of 35-3. His defeats came against Anthony Joshua, Dillian Whyte and Joe Joyce. However, ever since the KO loss to Joyce in September 2022, he’s taken his game to a whole new level. He has rattled off five straight wins and in his last two, he was able to overcome Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang.

The resurgence of Joseph Parker

Earlier on in his career, those are the kinds of fights that Joseph Parker would’ve lost – but he’s different now. He went back to the drawing board to try and figure out where he was going wrong, and he returned with a new idea of who he is as a fighter.

At this point, he’s seen as a veteran, and yet given that he competes at heavyweight, you could argue he has so much more left to give at the elite level.

When colliding with someone like Daniel Dubois, he’ll need to be wary of the power – and he only needs to take one look at the Anthony Joshua fight as a reminder of what can happen if you don’t take Dubois seriously. Either way, Joseph Parker needs to be taken seriously, and his foes can’t afford to underestimate him.