By Ian S Palmer
There are plenty of heavyweight titles on the line this Saturday, Nov. 28th as unbeaten heavyweight hopefuls Daniel ‘Dynamite’ Dubois and Joe “Juggernaut” Joyce of England step into the ring in Westminster, England. The British, Commonwealth, and vacant European Belts are up for grabs along with Dubois’ WBO International and WBC Silver Titles. Dubois was last in the ring in August when her stopped Ricardo Snijders in the second round while Joyce stopped Michael Wallisch in the third round in July. The bout can be seen live in America on ESPN+ while those in the UK can catch the action on BT Sport 1.
Dubois stopped Ebenezer Tetteh in the second in September, 2019 for the vacant Commonwealth and WBO International Titles and the 23-year-old is now 15-0 with 14 big Ko’s. He also stopped Nathan Gorman in the fifth round in July, 2019 for the vacant British Heavyweight Title so has racked up several belts since turning pro. Dubois hails from London and is basically 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 him.
Those comparisons are easy to understand since Dubois is also a pretty big heavyweight as he stands 6-feet-5-inches tall with a 78-inch reach and has stopped 14 of his 15 opponents for a current 93.3 per cent knockout ratio. Like Joshua, Dubois also 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 cautiously since turning pro in April of 2017. He’s been pretty active but has just 43 rounds of experience under his belt due to his power. His opponents thus far have been Snijders, Kyotaro Fujimoto, Tetteh, Gorman, Marcus Kelly, Blaise Mendouo, David Howe, Mauricio Barragan, AJ Carter, Dorian Darch, DL Jones, Tom Little, Kevin Johnson, Razvan Cojanu and Richard Lartey with Johnson being the only man to last the distance.
For most boxing fans, the only recognizable names on his list of opponents have been Little, Gorman, Cojanu, Tetteh, Lartey and Johnson and none of those are contenders. 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 really the most mobile heavyweight in the ring. He has mediocre to 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.
Joyce is now 35 years old and didn’t turn pro until late in 2017. He enjoyed a fine amateur career with gold medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2015 European Games. He also took home a silver from the 2016 Olympics in Brazil in the super-heavyweight division when he lost the gold-medal match to Tony Yoka of France. Joyce owns a perfect record of 11-0 with 10 wins coming by way of knockout. He stands 6-feet-6-inches tall with an 80-inch reach and it’s obvious he has some power in his fists with a 91 per cent knockout record.
His opponents so far have been Wallisch, Bryant Jennings, Alexander Ustinov, former WBC World Champion Bermane Stiverne, Ian Lewison, Rudolf Jozic, Donnie Palmer, Lenroy Thomas, Ivica Bacurin, Iago Kiladze and Joe Hanks. Not an elite list either but each one of them did have winning records. Joyce’s boxing skills haven’t had a chance to be showcased very often as he has four first-round Kos as well as one in the second stanza and two in the third and like Dubois, has boxed just 43 rounds since turning pro.
Joyce won the vacant WBA Continental Heavyweight Belt with his win over Hanks in December, 2018 and the only man to go the distance with him has been Bryant, who lasted 12 rounds in July, 2019 but dropped a unanimous decision. Joyce has an inch advantage in height and two inches in reach and matches up well in all departments other than age as he’s 12 years older than Dubois. However, many of those years were spent as an amateur and that experience could be a big advantage on Saturday.
Prediction…
This is a great matchup in size and power and Joyce may actually have slightly better boxing skills. He’s only been the distance once but doesn’t rely on his power as much as Dubois does. This is actually a tough call as Joyce could be underrated and neither has really had their chin severely tested as of yet. Joyce’s chances should get better the longer the fight goes but Dubois may know this and come out with his heavy artillery early on. I can see this going either way and a draw isn’t out of the question and don’t be surprised if it goes the distance either. When push comes to shove though, I expect the younger Dubois to somehow come out on top.
