Anthony Joshua next boxing fight lined up as Usyk | Boxing News

Joseph Parker, the WBO interim heavyweight boxing champion, believes that regardless of his rating, he is not the front-runner for a bout with Oleksandr Usyk however is setting his sights on Anthony Joshua as a substitute. After a gorgeous knockout win towards Martin Bakole in Saudi Arabia – a last-minute alternative for the unwell Daniel Dubois – the 33-year-old Kiwi issued a problem to Usyk for the championship title.

Parker has defeated notable opponents together with Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang, and now Bakole, but hasn’t held a heavyweight championship since his 2018 defeat by Joshua for the unified titles. Despite a sturdy case for in search of a title fight, Usyk ruled out a conflict with Parker, expressing his intent to face Dubois for the IBF title in pursuit of a second undisputed heavyweight championship.

Faced with dwindling probabilities towards Usyk, Parker then acknowledged his need for a rematch with Joshua.

Speaking on the Ariel Helwani show, a clearly pissed off Parker remarked: “It feels like we are so close to fighting for real titles and then, all of a sudden, he [Dubois] got sick and now they are lining up this big fight between Usyk and Dubois. I’m not sure what we need to do in order to lock in a championship of the world fight.

“I feel we now have achieved every part requested of us and hopefully we will lock it in quickly. I might love the chance simply to check myself towards Usyk. He is a great fighter and I’d like to see what I’m succesful of doing towards somebody like that.

“If I could fight someone, it would be Usyk. Dubois, we did have that fight locked in and he pulled out, still with no explanation. Any of those two would be amazing,” the Kiwi boxer said, expressing his need to tackle both Usyk or Dubois.

Asked if he believes he might be lined up to tackle Usyk, he continued: “Not too confident that, that’ll be next. That’ll be best if that did happen, but, as you know, boxing has a lot of things that happen behind the scenes that we don’t really know and we don’t really hear off.

“There’s issues at all times being lined up. But I’m not sure [a fight against Usyk] will occur next. I actually have no thought who can be next, however I might fight anybody and everybody to get my likelihood to fight for the championship of the world.

“So not too sure. What can we do? What should we do in this kind of situation? Do we set it out and wait for the winner of that fight [Usyk vs Dubois] or do we keep busy and keep progressing and keep fighting other top fighters?” he contemplated about his future steps within the sport.

With his most popular opponents, Usyk and Dubois, probably dealing with one another as a substitute, the previous WBO world champion hinted at a doable rematch with Joshua, saying: “But, as we focus on myself and my career, I think those three names [Usyk, Dubois, Joshua] will be the next in line.”

Interest from Joshua’s camp in a fight with Parker was additionally talked about, as earlier than Dubois withdrew from their scheduled bout, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn had indicated an curiosity in having the British Olympic gold medallist face the winner.

The Matchroom boss declared on February 18: “AJ wants to become world heavyweight champion again. So the winner of Dubois and Parker is a real possibility. But AJ is gonna fight again, he wants to get back in the ring. He wants to compete.”

This article initially appeared on Mirror