British heavyweight contender Daniel ‘Dynamite’ Dubois 17-1 (16) is targeting a shot at WBA ‘regular’ titleholder Trevor Bryan 21-0 (15) following his first-round knockout victory over Juiseppe Angelo Cusumano 19-4 (17) in his USA debut at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio on Sunday night.
The 23-year-old Londoner was classes above his overmatched American opponent, knocking him down three times in the opening frame to force the stoppage at the 2:10 mark.
“You don’t get paid for overtime,” Dubois said.
“I had a great performance and had the best training camp ever. I want to fight for a world title. I want to fight the best. It’s going to come soon. Whoever’s next. I want to fight for a world title.”
Dubois was on the fast-track to glory before running into the stubborn Joe ‘Juggernaut’ Joyce 13-0 (12) last November who withstood the early pressure to stop Dubois with a fractured left eye socket in the 10th round.
Dubois has surgery on his eye and has bounced back, knocking out fringe player Bogdan Dinu 20-3 (16) in two rounds in June before the Cusumano fight.
Now the WBA number one ranked contender wants a shot at American Bryan while waiting for unified champion Anthony Joshua 24-1 (22) to make his mandatory title defence against former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk 18-0 (13).
Joshua is expected to face WBC counterpart Tyson Fury 30-0-1 (21) next year if ‘The Gypsy King’ is successful in his trilogy fight against former champion Deontay ‘The Bronze Bomber’ Wilder 42-1-1 (41) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 9.
Bryan, 32, has fought just once in the past three years, stopping former WBC titleholder Berman Stiverne 25-5-1 (21) in the 11th round to claim the vacant WBA ‘regular’ strap at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida last January.
Dubois sees the Bryan fight as the logical path to a shot at Joshua.
“Definitely. Whoever has the belts and gets me to the ultimate fights – I want them. I want big names and now we can push on,” he said.
“This was just the beginning. I’ve got a lot more to come. I want to be active, that’s how to get better.”
The loss to Joyce was a bitter pill to swallow for Dubois but with back-to-back knockout wins on his ledger he is well on his way to redeeming himself.
“When you lose you feel depressed and bad. I’m on top of the world right now,” Dubois said.
Promoter Frank Warren was impressed by Dubois’ performance, saying they want to face Bryan before the end of the year.
“It was a sensational debut in the States – the crowd loved him. I thought that was going to go much longer. He caught him with good shots, he’s such a big and powerful puncher,” Warren said to BT Sports.
“The WBA will order him against Bryan. That’s the fight we want and to get it on before the end of the year.”
