Daniel Dubois had to withdraw from his IBF title defense against Joseph Parker.
The British heavyweight was set to to feature on the Saudi card headlined by Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol’s rematch for the undisputed light heavyweight crown.
But, it emerged yesterday that Dubois fell ill and was deemed medically unfit to compete by doctors after a viral infection had wiped him out.
Martin Bakole with a message ahead of catching his flight to Riyadh to fight Joseph Parker tomorrow night.
[🎥 @MartinBakole01] pic.twitter.com/vR0sDBbCP2
— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) February 21, 2025
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Speaking to iFL TV about Dubois’ current condition, his promoter Frank Warren said: “It was a big fight, he’s trained very hard.
“If you don’t fight you don’t get paid, imagine the cost of a training camp, booking places, setting the camp up, bringing the sparring partners in, nutritionists, chefs, trainers, and you don’t get paid.
“It’s a massive loss, you can’t insure it, if you do it costs a fortune to insure.
“Very, very disappointed. It was an unbelievable purse he was getting for the fight but we are where we are, if you’re not well, you can’t fight.
“I’m always saying to the fighters I don’t want to hear after the event if anything goes wrong that you had a bad hand, or a cold, or your budgie died, none of that matters, you live to fight another day.
“We knew he weren’t well. When he went to the doctor originally he was just going to have the doctor examine him, give him some medication but the medication he gave him obviously had to be checked that it didn’t have any ingredients on the WADA list.
“To do that they got in touch with the Boxing Board of Control, then a Boxing Board of Control doctor came along and he got a little bit worse by then.
“One of the medicines he was given causes a lot of drowsiness, so that was the end of that.”
When asked specially what is wrong with Dubois, Warren replied: “He’s got a viral infection.
“Quite a few people have been getting it out here. I remember the last time when we went back from here [in December] a lot of people were ill over Christmas.
Joseph Parker now faces Martin Bakole on Saturday night.
