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Parker eyes Joshua rematch and ‘unfinished business’ with Dubois after Wardley fight

By James Hicken

Copyright independent

Parker eyes Joshua rematch and ‘unfinished business’ with Dubois after Wardley fight

Joseph Parker wants a rematch with Anthony Joshua and to finally face Daniel Dubois if he can get past Fabio Wardley on October 25.

The Kiwi will be defending his WBO Interim world title against an unlikely challenger in Wardley. However, he believes he has much bigger fights ahead.

Parker told Sky Sports: “I’ve been wanting a rematch with Joshua. I want to avenge those losses.

“I know AJ’s another big fight, I don’t really care who I fight, just make sure it’s someone who’s top five in the world.”

Joshua and Parker fought in 2018 to unify the WBO, WBA and IBF titles in Cardiff, and while Parker put on an impressive display to become the first man to take the Brit all the way, he lost a lopsided points decision and was sent back to the drawing board.

A rematch between Parker and Joshua could be for a world title as fans await Oleksandr Usyk’s next move – which could see him vacate some of his belts.

If Usyk does relinquish his WBO title, Parker said his preference would be to fight for it against someone like Joshua rather than have his interim title elevated.

Parker explained: “You want to win it so it would be nice to fight someone to win it. I know you can get elevated to it and it gives you a bit more bargaining power. But it would be nice to fight for it.”

AJ isn’t the only British heavyweight on Parker’s radar, however, as he also plans on settling his rivalry with Dubois.

The former IBF champion was scheduled to defend his title against Parker in February, but pulled out just a couple of days before fight night due to illness – denying Parker his first shot at a world title since he had his taken by Joshua.

Parker instead had to beat Martin Bakole via second-round knockout to become the WBO interim champion, but he still wants to get his hands on Dubois down the line.

Speaking on a second attempt at fighting Dubois, Parker added: “There is unfinished business [with Dubois] and if he wants to get it on, we definitely can,

“There’s no point avoiding fights. Whatever they put in front of me, I’ll take.”

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