2024 was a banner year for Daniel Dubois and there is no sense of the IBF heavyweight champion slowing down now.

On February 22nd, Dubois, 22-2 (21 KOs), will make a voluntary defense of his title against former WBO heavyweight champion, Joseph Parker, 35-3 (23 KOs).

If Dubois is in the form of his life, Parker is also in the midst of a career best run.

The 32 year-old earned his opportunity by beating two of the heavyweight division’s most feared men.

Last December, the New Zealander comprehensively outboxed Deontay Wilder and followed that up less than three months later by outlasting Zhilei Zhang.

Parker may not have expected his opportunity to become a two-time heavyweight champion to come against Dubois but, over the past twelve months, the 27 year-old Londoner has fulfilled the potential which has been evident since he turned professional as an 19 year old.

After losing to Oleksandr Usyk last August, doubts about his mental strength and desire reached a crescendo.

Dubois refused to be crushed by the criticism. Lat December, he overcame some tricky moments to wear down and stop Jarrell Miller in a make or break fight and then walked through fire to eventually bully Filip Hrgovic to defeat.

In September, Dubois dominated two time unified champion, Anthony Joshua, in startling fashion, stopping him in five rounds to become a world champion.

Dubois’ Hall of Fame promoter, Frank Warren, believes that although Parker will provide a stern test, Dubois is currently in an unstoppable mood.

“When we talked about it and looked at the options, this was the one that I felt would be the right one. They went with it and I hope I’m right,” Warren told The Ring.

“You’ve seen what you need to see with Joe. He’s a good fighter and he’s got a wealth of experience. He can punch himself and he’s not got a bad chin even though I know that Joe Joyce knocked him over.

“I don’t think this is gonna be a walkover but I’ve got to be honest, I do fancy him to knock him out.”

If Dubois’ turnaround inside the ring has been remarkable, crucially, he has also become a different character outside of it.

Dubois will always prefer his actions to speak louder than words but he has slowly begun to become more comfortable in front of the cameras and around his peers.

He refused to be intimidated by Hrgovic before their interim title fight in February and then got involved in a heated exchange with Joshua when they sat down to discuss their clash at Wembley Stadium.

He was a vision of confidence as he strode to the ring for his fight with Joshua.

Warren believes that that newfound mental strength will play just as big a roll in him getting past Parker as his undoubted physical attributes.

“I think Daniel’s youth, his power, his state of mind at the moment and getting his dad in has made a big difference. I just feel he’s in a really good place,” he said.

“That was good when we did those round table things where he stood his ground. I was absolutely shocked when he started swearing and called the other fella [Hrgovic] a See you next Tuesday. I nearly fell through the floor. It was quite funny.”