BELFAST – Former WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee wants his heavyweight charge, Joseph Parker, to fight for a title in his next contest.
Parker took out late-replacement Martin Bakole in two rounds in Saudi Arabia last weekend, but had been set to challenge IBF champion Daniel Dubois, who withdrew from the contest two days before it was due to take place.
Lee now thinks Parker, who has defeated Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Bakole in his last three, deserves a shot at unified champion Oleksandr Usyk.
“Joe should be fighting for the title next,” Lee told BoxingScene. “There’s no reason for him to be going around the houses anymore.”
Parker, unlike Dubois, has yet to share a ring with Usyk, so Lee believes that is a reason why former WBO champion Parker deserves his shot, too.
“Who needs to see that anymore?” Lee said of Usyk-Dubois II. “It will sell in the UK, probably, but from a boxing point of view… I think Joe will give him the best fight. I think Joe is the best fight for him out there [for Usyk], Joe or [Agit] Kabayel. I think they give Usyk the best fight because of their size, because of their workrate, because of their ability and their co-ordination. They can match him. These big, tall guys who are slow and cumbersome, or un-coordinated, Usyk will eat them up all day. Joe’s a very clever fighter.”
Parker’s stock rose further still with how he handled big Bakole, even if the African was not coming off a training camp.
“We were in a horrible situation, but we got a great outcome,” explained the trainer. “The punch that knocked out Bakole, it wasn’t because Bakole was tired or because he came in late. Every good professional fighter has four to six good rounds in him, and that punch would have knocked Bakole out with 20 weeks of camp never mind two days of camp. It was just a great punch. We were in a horrible position because we were getting punished because Daniel Dubois pulled out sick, there’s been no criticism of Daniel Dubois, but there was horrible criticism of Floyd Schofield who, from what I heard, was in bad shape. All of a sudden, we’re the ones under pressure to take the fight – [Lawrence] Okolie or Bakole – so we took Bakole, the biggest challenge, and Joe did what he had to do.”
Lee was also quick to acknowledge that while Parker was victorious, Bakole will represent a tough night’s work for anybody in the division.
“Yeah, he’s a handful. He is,” said Lee. “And it was turning into a hard fight. He landed a couple of shots on Joe, Joe was still ahead but he was coming into it and then Joe landed the punch and it just put it beyond any doubt. It was just turning into a hard fight.”
Dubois today posted on his social media: “Devastating decision but doctors ruling, so sorry to the fans, thank you to my team and sponsors, we were ready… I will be back.”