By Ian S Palmer
Former WBA ‘regular’ and current IBF Heavyweight Champion Daniel Dubois of England takes on fellow countryman and former IBF/IBO/WBO World Champion Anthony Joshua this Saturday, September 21st. The 12-rounder from the famed Wembley Stadium in London is expected to be fought in front of 100,000 fans and can be seen live in most nations on pay-per-view including DAZN. Dubois last boxed in June when he stopped Filip Hrgovic in the eighth round to hand him his first pro loss and capture the IBF Interim Title. Joshua last saw action in March when he knocked out mixed-martial artist Francis Ngannou in the second round.
The 27-year-old Dubois stopped Ebenezer Tetteh in the second round in September, 2019 for the vacant Commonwealth and WBO International Heavyweight Titles after stopping Nathan Gorman in the fifth round in July, 2019 for the vacant British Heavyweight Title. However, he lost all of those belts to Joe Joyce in November, 2020 when he took a knee in the 10th round and decided not to carry on due to taking Joyce’s jabs all night long and suffering eye damage.
He returned seven months later and stopped Bogdan Dinu in the second round before halting Joe Cusumano in one round and then beating Trevor Bryan for the WBA Regular Title by stopping him in the fourth round in June, 2022. He then suffered three knockdowns in the first round at the hands of Kevin Lerena but managed to stop him in the third round. That earned Dubois a shot at Oleksandr Usyk and his heavyweight titles in August, 2023 but he was halted in the ninth round. He then reeled off two impressive wins in a row by stopping Jarrell Miller in the 10th and final round last December and Filip Hrgovic in eight rounds in June.
The comparisons with fellow elite British heavyweights such as Tyson Fury, Joyce and Joshua are somewhat understandable as Dubois stands 6-feet-5-inches tall with a 78-inch and has plenty of power. He makes the ring walk with a mark of 21-2 and has stopped 20 of his 23 opponents for a highly-impressive current knockout ratio of 95.2 per cent in his victories. Dubois enjoyed a fine amateur career, reportedly losing just six of 75 bouts and winning gold medals at various tournaments. He didn’t fight in the Olympics though as he decided to turn pro instead in 2017.
Dubois was brought along rather cautiously as a pro but has been pretty active with 23 fights under his belt but has just 90 rounds of pro experience due to his long list of knockouts. His most recognizable opponents have included Hrgovic, Miller, Usyk, Kevin Lerena, Bryan, Joyce, Dignu, Nathan Gorman, Kevin Johnson and Razvan Cojanu so he’s fought his share of tough opponents over the past few years. The only three men who haven’t been stopped by Dubois have been Usyk, Joyce and Johnson.
Dubois was outclassed by Joyce but oddly enough was ahead on two of the judges’ scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Dubois usually tips the scales between 230 and 240 lbs and his career has been based on power. He can cause damage with either hand but isn’t the most mobile heavyweight in the ring. He has mediocre to decent hand speed and his chin looked a little shaky when he was dropped three times in the first stanza by Lerena and halted by Usyk.
The 34-year-old Joshua is a former 2012 Olympic gold medalist who won the IBF Title in his 16th pro bout by stopping Charles Martin in the second round in 2016. He enters the fight with a record of 28-3 with 25 Ko’s. He ended his first 14 pro bouts and 16 of his first 18 within the first three rounds and 89.3 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage. He’s gone the distance in four of his last eight fights though and has lost three of the past nine but has stopped his last three opponents.
Joshua stopped Wladimir Klitschko in the 11th round in 2017 to win the WBA Title and vacant IBO Crown. He added the WBO Belt with a unanimous decision win over Joseph Parker the next year but lost them all in 2019 when Andy Ruiz stopped him in the seventh round in Joshua’s first fight outside of the UK. He beat Ruiz by unanimous decision in their rematch six months later to regain the titles. Joshua defended them once by stopping Kubrat Pulev in the ninth round a year later and lost them again when he ran into Oleksandr Usyk in September, 2021 and also lost the rematch 11 months later by unanimous and split decisions respectively.
Joshua also has wins over Jermaine Franklin, Otto Wallin, Robert Helenius, Carlos Takam, Alexander Povetkin, Eric Molina, Dominic Breazeale, Dillian Whyte and Kevin Johnson along the way. His chin has always been a bit of a question mark and his power seemed to have evaded him for a spell. As far as his chin goes, Klitschko had him down and apparently out in the sixth round in 2017, but Joshua came back and stopped him. He was also dropped four times by Ruiz in their first fight and rocked a couple of times by Usyk. Joshua turned pro in 2013 and has 162 rounds under his belt since.
He measures 6-feet-6-inches tall with an 82-inch reach for an inch edge in height on Dubois as well as a four-inch reach advantage. Joshua is arguably a bit too muscle bound, but possesses pretty good boxing skills even if he is a bit robotic. He has decent mobility and upper body movement as well as a stiff jab but usually tries to stay away from slugfests if possible these days while he attempts to box his opponents and use his size to advantage.
Joshua now tries to avoid going toe-to-toe and box, such as he did in the rematch with Ruiz, since he has the habit of losing his legs when getting nailed on the chin. Of course, he also has to stand his ground and fight back when tested though so this has proven to be a bit of a dilemma for him. He’ll try using his jab and boxing skills against Dubois to nail him with something solid whenever he sees an opening but will definitely go after him if he feels he’s hurt.
Prediction…
Dubois once had a bit of a reputation of lacking heart as he didn’t deal with adversity very well against Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk but he may have turned the corner now as he showed plenty of it against Filip Hrgovic and Jarrell Miller as he went to-to-toe with them and pounded out impressive stoppage wins. He also got up three times from the canvas in the first round against Kevin Lerena and stopped him two rounds later. Dubois looked very good against Miller and Hrgovic as he displayed speed and fine combination punching and absorbed heavy shots from both of them. Both he and Joshua are heavy hitters who usually end things before the judge’s can tally their scorecards. But while Dubois seemed to embrace a good punchup in his last two fights, Joshua typically shies away from slugging it out with his opponents ever since Andy Ruiz stopped him five years ago. It wouldn’t surprise me if either guy went down for the count and this is a tossup fight for me. Whoever hurts his opponent first needs to make sure they finish him off rather than letting him off the hook. Dubois is seven years younger and should be confident after his last couple of fights but I feel he needs to end things early. It’s hard to pick a winner here as the fight will come down to power, chins and the will to win, but I’ll give Joshua the slight edge.
