Joseph Parker was in Riyadh on Saturday night to watch Oleksandr Usyk retain his WBC, WBA, WBO and Ring Magazine heavyweight titles with a unanimous decision victory over Tyson Fury in their eagerly awaited rematch.

The New Zealander will be back in Saudi Arabia on February 22nd when he challenges Daniel Dubois for the IBF title. Having previously held the WBO belt, Parker will be looking to become a two-time champion when he takes on the in-form Londoner.

Riyadh Season events throw together the great and the good from the boxing world and the two have been in close proximity this week but there have been no arguments or clashes. Parker, 35-3 (23 KOs), and Dubois 22-2 (21 KOs), have been friendly and respectful of each other but Parker told Queensberry that that will change once the first bell sounds.

“It’s always respectful before the fight and after the fight, but when we’re in that ring come February 22nd, it’s gonna be a different story,” he said. “Everyone knows. He wants to smash me, I wanna bash his face.”

Dubois is in at the midst of the best run of his career having stopped Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua in his last three outings but 32 year-old Parker is riding a five fight win streak of his own and has beaten Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang over the past twelve months.

Although he will need to be wary of Dubois’ power, Parker feels that his aggressive, front foot style should suit him down to the ground.

“Yeah. I feel like Daniel’s style is great for the style that I bring,” he said. “I bring movement, speed, punches in bunches - the same as him - and it’s whoever is gonna execute their game plan on fight night and whoever has the best gameplan that’s gonna win.”