There is little doubt that Daniel Dubois 21-2 (20) would have his hands full against former two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua 28-3 (25), but not everybody is ruling out his chances.
The 26-year-old Londoner was impressive last weekend when he dismantled Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic 17-1 (14) in eight rounds, stopping him on cuts ay Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
Perhaps most impressive was the way Dubois, the underdog, handled the pressure from the 32-year-old Hrgovic early in the bout. Critics have previously questioned Dubois’ heart following his stoppage losses to Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk, but when the going got tough against Hrgovic, he bit down on the gumshield and willed himself back into the fight.
The victory earned Dubois the interim IBF heavyweight title and gives him a certain amount of bargaining power going in to a mooted bout against the 34-year-old Joshua from Watford that is being negotiated for London’s Wembley Arena in September.
“He was against a specimen in Filip Hrgovic. Maybe not as good as Joshua, but Daniel is going to have to come up with a game plan,” said former Sky Sports presenter Adam Smith to Pro Boxing Fans.
“Remember, [Dubois’ trainer Don Charles] spent a lot of time with Anthony at the beginning of his career.
“They’ll have their plans and ways of doing it. What I like is Daniel is in a great physical state at the moment and right here [in Dubois’ head], he’s strong and he’s maturing and he’s got the backing of Frank Warren.
“AJ, of course, is with Matchroom and that rivalry will go again if the two meet in September at Wembley.”
The Saudi card on the weekend was billed as 5v5, pitting boxers from Warren’s Queensberry Promotions stable against fighters from Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing.
Each of fights looked relatively even on paper, but the results all went one way. Queensberry Promotions scored a clean sweep 5-0.
Smith says he has seen Dubois and Joshua spar in the past and the younger man will fancy his chances based on how those session went.
“I think Daniel will need to think back to those spars and think how he can get to Joshua. Joshua does look good now, beautifully executing his jab, which is his powerful weapon,” said Smith.
“Daniel is going to have to find a way of dealing with that, but Joshua has really only beaten Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou [in coming back from his two losses to Oleksandr Usyk]. The way he did it was perfect.
“The manner of victory was massively impressive, but it wasn’t a Daniel Dubois in front of him.
“It was Otto Wallin, who is not in that class, and Francis Ngannou, who was having his second professional boxing fight. So as brilliant as AJ looked and as great of a tie-up with [trainer] Ben Davison is, I think it’s a really impressive one.
“We know that Daniel Dubois has shown guts, courage and a will to win, and it’s going to be a fascinating one.”
