DANIEL DUBOIS’ trainer, Don Charles, is adamant the IBF heavyweight champion does not owe Joseph Parker a shot at his title despite pulling out of their scheduled clash during fight week.

Dubois had been set to put his belt on the line in a highly anticipated clash with in-form former WBO champ Parker in Riyadh on February 22.

However, an illness forced the Londoner to withdraw a little over 48 hours before the first bell was due. Instead, Parker faced Martin Bakole, who had been rushed over to Riyadh, and the New Zealand man made quick work of his new assignment, winning after 2:17 of the second.

Dubois has since returned to full training and is expected to return to the ring this summer, with a July date understood to be the target. It is likely that he will now head into an undisputed clash with Ring Magazine champion Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the WBO, IBF and WBC belts too.

Alternatively, Dubois could find himself in an all-British clash with 41-year-old Dereck Chisora, who is set to be called as the IBF mandatory challenger later this month. What certainly looks unlikely to be next, however, is a rearranged fight with Parker.

Now, during an interview with The Ring’s Louis Hart, trainer Charles insists they do not owe Team Parker anything despite the nature of the cancelled fight and compared it to a similar situation he faced when he was head coach of Chisora.

“Nothing is owed to nobody,” Charles said. “We don't owe him nothing. He was a voluntary defence.

“My fighter was ill. We pulled him out… sensibly pulled him out. I'm not a governing body who makes the next fight for Daniel Dubois. I'm not Daniel Dubois' promoter or his manager. So, therefore, we don't owe Parker nothing. He had a fight.

“In most cases, when an opposition pulls out, that fighter goes without a fight on that particular show. He had a big fight and got paid a fat purse. We don't owe him nothing.

“I'm very disappointed, to be quite frank, from Team Parker. I understand their frustration and disappointment because I too, as a coach, have been in that sort of situation. And I don't remember the whole boxing fraternity feeling sorry for myself or for Derek Chisora, the actual fighter it happened to in 2010 against Wladimir Klitschko.

“We went to Germany, we trained very hard like you do, did a full camp, went to Mannheim in Germany, back in 2010 to fight Wladimir Klitschko. Coincidentally, it was to become a unified champion.

“After the public workout that very evening, I got back to the hotel and Frank Warren called to say there's been bad news that Wladimir has got injured doing some stretches in his hotel room. So they aborted mission.

“So I know what Andy Lee, the trainer, and Joseph Parker were feeling. But the difference between them and our situation back in 2010, Derek Chisora's situation, and Parker and Andy Lee’s situation is that we never had a fight.

“Wladimir pulled out so we didn't have a fight. Consequently, there was no pay. So when this happened to Parker and Andy Lee, they got delivered a fight with a lot of money. They had a fight.

“It's unfortunate that we had to pull out through illness but Daniel wanted to fight. We pulled him out of that fight under the doctor's advice, who recommended from their findings that he shouldn't be fighting 48 hours later.”

Charles also recalled that some had accused Dubois of pulling out of the scheduled Parker clash just so that he could head directly into an undisputed clash with Usyk.

He said: “People were jumping to conclusions saying he pulled out at that fight to fight Usyk. No, he was ill. As I sit here, we still don't know who we're fighting next. So get off my guy’s back for a start.

“I do understand their frustration but I've never known a fighter to be persecuted so much like Daniel Dubois has since this happened. I've never known anything like it. So many fighters have pulled out through illness and through injuries. I've never known anything like it where people are saying he ducked Parker.

“It was a voluntary defence. We chose to fight Parker. We were given other names but we chose to fight Parker because we were that convinced that stylistically Daniel would absolutely demolish him.

“But time sorts everything, and in the future. I know we're going to keep winning any fight that's put in front of us and I hope he keeps winning because they're in the heavyweight division and inevitably they're going to meet.”