Parker, a former world champion, lost his title to Anthony Joshua in a unification fight back in 2018. He's had a few bumps in the road since then, losing to Dillian Whyte and Joe Joyce. But lately, he's been on a roll. In December, he beat Deontay Wilder over 12 rounds, managing to avoid Wilder's famous right hand. Before that, he went the distance with Zhilei Zhang and came out on top.
Dubois has had his own ups and downs. He lost to Joe Joyce a while back, but he's turned things around. In his last three fights, he stopped Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic. The win over Hrgovic got him the full IBF championship. But in September, Anthony Joshua knocked him out in his first title defense.
Former world heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs shared his thoughts on the fight in an interview with Seconds Out. He's really impressed with Parker:
"Parker is something else. He's hard to handle. He took losses like a man and bounced right back. He was the first of the current era to take a loss and come right back with a win. I'm super impressed with him."
Briggs also noticed improvements in Dubois:
"Dubois changed it up. He got better."
When it comes to picking a winner, Briggs isn't so sure:
"Parker possibly can win, but it ain't easy. I would have said Parker all day long before, but Dubois improved."
The stakes are high for this fight. The winner could find themselves in line for an undisputed contest. That's especially true with Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk set to face off on December 21.