Boxing

Frank Warren Reveals Symptom That Forced Daniel Dubois To Withdraw From Joseph Parker Fight

This one symptom is what ultimately led to Daniel Dubois having to withdraw from his fight against Joseph Parker.
Grant Young|
Frank Warren during a press conference at the Guildhall, London on October 23, 2024.
Frank Warren during a press conference at the Guildhall, London on October 23, 2024. | IMAGO / PA Images

The boxing world is well aware that the highly-anticipated bout between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker for the IBF world heavyweight championship slated for Riyadh Season's 'The Last Crescendo' February 22 card is now canceled.

Dubois had to withdraw from the due to what has been deemed an illness. As a result, Joseph Parker will be now fighting knockout artist Martin Bakole, and the bout will be for Parker's WBO interim heavyweight title.

Daniel Dubois' promoter is the legendary Frank Warren, who is the founder and heads Queensberry Promotions. During a February 21 interview with iFL TV, Warren disclosed some of the details about Dubois' fateful illness.

"Very, very disappointed," Warren said about Dubois having to withdraw. "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. And 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. It's you live to fight another day."

He later added, "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... One of the medicines he was given causes a lot of drowsiness, so that was the end of that."

It's interesting to hear that Dubois experiencing drowsiness after taking medication was the final nail in the coffin, so to speak, in terms of him being unable to fight.

Warren later added of Dubois, "He’s got a viral infection. Quite a few people have been getting it out here."

So that's that. This viral infection (and the symptom of drowsiness) prompted a fantastic fight to fall off of 'The Last Crescendo' card and keep Dubois from earning millions of dollars.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.