By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten heavyweight hopeful Daniel ‘Dynamite’ Dubois of England steps back into the ring this Friday, September 27th when he takes on undefeated Ebenezer Tetteh of Accra, Ghana for the vacant Commonwealth Title. The 12-round bout will be held at the Royal Albert Hall in London and shown live in the UK on BT Sport 1 and live in America on ESPN+. Dubois last fought in July when he stopped Nathan Gorman in the fifth round for the vacant British Title. Tetteh last fought in October of last year when he stopped Jones Quarshie in the third round.
Dubois is a 22-year-old native of London with a perfect mark of 12-0 with 11 Kos and he’s more or less being groomed as the next great British heavyweight. He reportedly dropped Anthony Joshua a couple of years ago during a sparring session and is often compared to Joshua, which may not be such a good thing these days however. Those comparisons are easy to understand though as Dubois stands 6-feet-5-inches tall with a 78-inch reach and has stopped 11 of his 12 opponents for a 91.7 per cent knockout ratio.
Dubois enjoyed a fine amateur career, 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. Dubois has been brought along relatively slowly since turning pro in April of 2017. He’s been active but has just 38 rounds of experience under his belt due to his power. His opponents thus far have been Marcus Kelly (TKO-1), Blaise Mendouo (TKO-2), David Howe (KO-1), Mauricio Barragan (KO-2), AJ Carter (TKO-1), Dorian Darch (TKO-2), DL Jones (TKO-3), Tom Little (TKO-5), Kevin Johnson (points 10), Razvan Cojanu (KO-2) Richard Lartey (KO-4) and Nathan Gorman (KO-5).
After fighting a few of recognizable names in Gorman, Cojanu and Johnson, Dubois is back to taking on a relative unknown. Dubois usually tips the scales between 230 and 240 lbs and his career has been based on his power. He can cause damage with either hand but isn’t really the most mobile heavyweight in the ring. He has decent hand speed though and is determined to make a name for himself in the division. It’s hard to say how good his chin is at this point since it hasn’t been tested but that may change against Tetteh on Friday night.
Tetteh is 31 years old and is also known for his power with a perfect record of 19-0. He’s stopped 16 of his opponents for a current stoppage ratio of 84.2 per cent. There’s no official listing for his height and reach so it’s hard to compare him to Dubois, but the lack of information goes to show nobody really knows that much about him. We do know he turned pro back in 2012 and has boxed a total of 84 rounds since then.
Tetteh has never fought outside of Ghana and even though all of his opponents are basically unrecognizable he did manage to win the vacant WBA Pan African Light Heavyweight Title in 2014 with a first-round TKO over Maxwell Amponsah. He then captured the vacant WBO African Heavyweight Crown in 2017 with a second-round KO over Boniface Kabore. It looks like Tetteh started out as a light heavyweight, then moved up to cruiserweight for a few fights and fought as a heavyweight for the first time last year.
Prediction…
Just four of Tetteh’s 19 opponents have had winning records so he’s taking a step up in class against Dubois. He’s fighting away from home for the first time and isn’t a natural heavyweight so he has a few disadvantages off the bat. However, he does have power and Dubois has never really been tested yet. Anything could happen here, especially if it turns into a slugfest. We simply don’t know enough about Tetteh to give him the nod here, so perhaps in a way I’ll go with Dubois by default. Fans are expecting a stoppage though.
