The upcoming heavyweight title fight between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker is in doubt after Dubois reported symptoms of sickness, it has been revealed.
Dubois and Parker are due to fight over 12 rounds on Saturday for the Brit's heavyweight championship.
However, Ring Magazine report that Dubois is 'sick' and is being evaluated by a doctor.
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It is added that a search for a replacement has already begun in case the IBF heavyweight champion cannot compete on Saturday, although a decision has yet to be made.
Dubois is due to defend his IBF crown for the second time after defeating Anthony Joshua via a stunning fifth-round knockout at Wembley Stadium in September.
If a replacement is found, the fight could become a non-title bout as Parker currently does not hold any sanctioned belts.
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The Ring Magazine have now claimed that among the options being considered to potentially replace Dubois include Lawrence Okolie, David Adeleye and Mourad Aliev.
British star Okolie has won world titles at both cruiserweight and bridgerweight.
Fellow Brit Adeleye is the current English heavyweight champion, having defeated Solomon Dacres at Wembley in December. He suffered a seventh-round TKO defeat to Fabio Wardley in Saudi Arabia in 2023, losing his WBO European heavyweight title in the process.
French fighter Aliev, meanwhile, has won all 13 of his professional bouts and stands at the imposing height of 6ft 7in.
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He also last fought in December, defeating Davide Brito via a sixth-round knockout.
The Dubois vs Parker card has already been the subject of late drama, with the undercard fight between Shakur Stevenson and Floyd Schofield Jr having to be postponed.
Schofield Jr fell ill on Monday and had to be taken to hospital, with the British Boxing Board of Control deciding to cancel the fight.
His father took to Twitter to claim that Schofield Jr had been 'poisoned' by a member of Stevenson's team. The allegation was later retracted in a subsequent post.
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Stevenson denied the allegation in a subsequent interview ahead of his replacement bout against British contender Josh Padley - who is an electrician by day.
Stevenson told reporters: "This is my assumption of the whole situation: I think this kid was struggling to make the weight class, and I feel he may have tried last minute to make the weight and he probably kinda had weight problems. I think that was the issue.
"But instead of saying it, they like to come up with all types of crazy stuff."
Topics: Boxing, Saudi Arabia, Joseph Parker
Ryan Smart