Dillian Whyte believes Daniel Dubois could be overlooking Joseph Parker after he called out Oleksandr Usyk for a rematch.
Dubois stormed the ring to call for a second outing with Usyk after the Ukrainian overcame Tyson Fury by unanimous decision in their rematch in Riyadh earlier this month.
The IBF heavyweight world champion defends his belt against former world champion, Joseph Parker on February 22 in Riyadh and Whyte, who survived a late scare to outpoint the New Zealander in 2018, has questioned the timing of the callout.
“Dubois is moving mad,” the 36-year-old told IFLTV.
“He’s got Joseph Parker to think about.
“He’s lost it, because Joseph Parker is not an easy fight.
‘It’s kind of mad, because you’ve got a big, dangerous fight coming up and then you’re going to call out Usyk.
“It doesn’t make sense.
“He should have said to Usyk, ‘let’s get it on in the future, I’ve got Joe Parker to deal with, if I get through him then let’s get it on.’
“Right now Dubois is confident and he’s moving mad, he doesn’t care.”
The 27-year-old was upgraded to full IBF titlist after Usyk vacated the belt following his first victory over Fury in May.
The Londoner destroyed Anthony Joshua in five rounds in his first defence at Wembley Stadium in September.
Parker, who was beaten by Joshua in 2018, is on a run of five straight victories, including over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang and Whyte believes Dubois may be overlooking the 32-year-old.
“That’s how these guys lose, because they overlook their opponents and they look towards bigger fights,” the Brixton man added.
“Joseph Parker is no slouch and he’s got better in the last few years and he’s improved.
“Maybe Dubois is thinking it’s an easy fight after beating Anthony Joshua, Joshua beat Parker, so he maybe thinking, ‘yeah, I’ll beat Parker too.’
“Joseph Parker has improved a lot lately, so Dubois needs to be careful.
“Focus on what’s in front of you, the Usyk fight’s there it’s not going anywhere.
“Focus on Joseph Parker, because Joseph Parker might end up beating him up.”
Whyte returned himself with a seventh round retirement win over Ebenezer Tetteh in Gibraltar earlier this month and is targeting a rematch with Joshua.
‘The Body Snatcher’ was supposed to face his rival in August 2023, but the bout was cancelled after a positive drugs test, but he was cleared to resume his career after an investigation confirmed that it was caused by a contaminated supplement.
