Joseph Parker's Matchroom Boxing debut will still take place on June 29, but it will now be against a different opponent.
Matchroom Boxing announced that Parker will now face Alex Leapai on the DAZN undercard for the June 29 show in Providence, Rhode Island. Parker was originally supposed to face former world title challenger Eric Molina, but that appears to no longer be the case.
Parker won the WBO heavyweight title back in 2016 when he won a majority decision against Andy Ruiz Jr. Parker defended the title twice throughout 2017 before having a title unification against Anthony Joshua in March 2018. Joshua ended up winning the fight by unanimous decision to unify the WBA, WBO and IBF titles.
Since then, Parker lost a split decision against Dillian Whyte and then won a fight against Alexander Flores last December. The fight is the first in a three-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing that he signed weeks ago.
Leapai is a 39-year-old fighter from Australia who has faced a number of notable of heavyweights throughout his long career, including Manuel Charr, Malik Scott and Kevin Johnson. Leapai once challenged for the unified WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles in 2014, but was stopped by Wladimir Klitschko in the fifth round.
Below is the full card so far for the June 29 taking place at the Dunkin' Donuts Center:
- Demetrius Andrade vs Maciej Sulecki: WBO middleweight title
- Kal Yafai vs Norbelto Jimenez: WBA super flyweight title
- Joseph Parker vs Alex Leapai
- Mark DeLuca vs Brandon Brewer
- Anthony Marsella vs Jose Aubel
- Alexis Espino vs TBA
- Raymond Ford vs TBA
- Anthony Concepcion vs TBA
The card will be streamed on DAZN in the United States.
