Tyson Fury has shown support for his former teammate Joseph Parker, after the New Zealander was named Oleksandr Usyk’s mandatory challenger.
This week, the WBO ordered unified heavyweight champion Usyk to defend his titles against Parker, who claimed the interim WBO belt in February.
Parker won the gold with a second-round knockout of Martin Bakole, who stepped in on two days’ notice, after Daniel Dubois withdrew from a planned fight with Parker due to illness.
Dubois, 27, was due to defend the IBF heavyweight title against Parker, with the winner expected to face Usyk next. And despite Dubois’s withdrawal, the Briton wanted to fight Usyk next rather than reschedule his clash with Parker, according to his father Stan Dubois.
Meanwhile, Parker began to push for his own bout with Usyk, and the Kiwi has pole position in that race given the WBO’s order this week, which opened a 30-day negotiation window for a fight with the unbeaten Ukrainian.
Reacting to the WBO’s update, Fury wrote on Instagram: “About time as well, give @joeparkerboxer his shot!! Let’s go Joe.”
Prior to Fury’s retirement in January – far from the first of his career – the Briton was teammates with Parker, 33.
In 2024, Fury fought Usyk twice, losing to the southpaw on points both times. In May, Usyk beat Fury to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 24 years; in December, he retained the unified belts with another victory over Fury.
Between those results, which were the only losses of Fury’s professional career, Usyk vacated the IBF title. Interim champion Dubois was therefore elevated to regular champion. He retained the belt with a knockout of Anthony Joshua in September.
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Dubois, like Fury and Joshua, knows what it is like to fight Usyk. While “AJ” was twice outpointed by the Ukrainian, like Fury, Dubois was stopped by the 38-year-old in 2023. However, the result was not without controversy.
Before suffering the TKO, Dubois dropped Usyk with a low blow that many viewers felt was a legal body shot. Dubois appealed the result, but to no avail.
