The biggest British fight of the year will finally take place this Saturday night as former bronze medallist Joe Joyce and the hard hitting Daniel Dubois will contest the British, Commonwealth, WBC Silver and the vacant EBU crowns. The fight will be shown exclusively on BT Sport with both boxers expected to walk to the ring around 10.30pm British time.
The heavyweight tussle has been delayed and rescheduled numerous times due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, but it looks as if we will finally be able to see who deserves to be called one of Britain’s best soon enough.
Although now 35 and turned professional relatively late at the age of 31, Joe Joyce has already accomplished a lot especially in the amateurs. Joyce won the gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth games as well as the bronze medal at the 2013 European Amateur Boxing Championships. He also won a second gold medal at the European Olympic trials and the Silver at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Perhaps equally as important, the Londoner took part in the World Series of Boxing tournament in 2016 and did beat such recognisable names as Filip Hrgovic. It is evident that Joyce, even though he had not been lacing up for the professional game at this point, did acquire a wealth of boxing experience.
As you are probably thinking right now, Joe is quite a decorated amateur boxer. And you would be right.
Joyce turned professional in 2017 and has captured 11 wins with 0 defeats and 10 coming by knockout. He has shared the ring with seasoned opponents such as Alexander Ustinov, Bermane Stiverne and Bryant Jennings, who has been the only boxer able to last the distance so far. Along the way he has picked up WBA Continental, the WBA Gold and the Commonwealth belts.
There are some concerns that age will become a factor sooner than usual, given Joe’s current age.
However, he had this to say about that:
“I don’t feel that old because I only started in the game at the age he is now, which is 23,” said the Putney-based heavy on Boxing Scene.
“I feel like I haven’t been in the sport that long and that I have quite a few years ahead of me.
“But, yeah, this is a big fight and it is a big ladder to the top or a snake where I would have to rebuild. So the loser will have to rebuild a little bit and Daniel has got time more on his side because he is a young pup who would definitely be able to come back.
“I’d be able to come back too, but I don’t plan to do that. This is my chance to show what I am made of and to progress to the next stage and get a shot to become heavyweight champion.”
And a criticism that Joe’s lack of punching speed will be his shortcoming has been voiced on numerous occasions. I do think that his high work rate and excellent timing make up for that. His chin hasn’t been properly tested by a huge puncher as of yet and that is a question that surely will be answered this weekend. You will rarely see him throw single punches, as he often delivers in bunches. His endurance also seems fine as evidenced by his fight with Bryant Jennings.
Now let us take a look at Daniel Dubois.
“DDD” was born in Greenwich, London in 1997. As is often with fighters who grew up as children, his father thought it was a good idea that Dubois focus his attention in a boxing gym rather than on the streets where he was often getting into trouble.
His amateur career isn’t as decorated as Joyce’s. But Dubois did have approximately 75 fights, won two ABA and two English schoolboy titles. Daniel was given the opportunity to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but he wanted to fight professionally.
And that he did on April 8th, 2017.
His record currently stands at 15-0 with 14 KO’s. The durable Kevin Johnson was his sole points decision victory. Along the way he has managed to grab the likes of the British, Commonwealth, and WBC Silver heavyweight titles. Dubois has been hailed as the hardest hitter by such respected professional critics as Colin Hart.
I think the likes of Anthony Joshua would have something to say about that comment by Hart. But then again, he could be proven to be right in time. What we do know is that Dubois possesses one punch knockout power and has improved considerably recently by developing a decent jab to setup his more concussive weapons. Just as importantly, he also digs well to the body especially with the left hook which has halted opponents on more than one occasion.
Both Joyce and Dubois have sparred with one another in the past which has caused some curious reporters to ask whether their imminent battle is personal.
Dubois said, “No [it’s not personal],” he insisted on Talk Sport.
“It’s 100 per cent just business and going out there with the intentions I have to completely decimate him, destroy him.
“Take away what he’s got, take away his fans, they’ll become my fans after I take all the glory away from him.
“Then I move on to bigger and better things.”
It is definitely an interesting fight to think about and it is surely one of the more difficult ones to predict given the tremendous talent of both gladiators.
But I think the more experienced Joe Joyce will take this one.
I expect his chin to stand up to the power of Dubois although there may be some rocky moments along the way, as there often are in fights of this quality. Joyce may even lose the first few rounds as Dubois starts fast and hard. But the volley of punches going the Greenwich man’s way will eventually befuddle him and he will see the canvas and be counted out somewhere around the 8th.
