Fights for the ‘triple crown’ of the British, European and Commonwealth heavyweights titles don’t come around all that often, which makes Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce’s showdown this Saturday night at Church House in Westminster all the more intriguing and enticing.
By my (possibly flawed) count, the battle between the fierce London rivals will be just the seventh heavyweight showdown in boxing history with all three of these belts up for grabs.
The first occasion all three belts were contested at once, Bruce Woodcock knocked out Freddie Mills in the 14th round of a rousing contest fought before 50,000 spectators at White City Stadium, the legendary arena originally built to host the 1908 Olympics, which was eventually demolished in 1985.
In later years, the iconic Henry Cooper featured in two fights for all three belts, besting Brian London on points in 1964 and – in one of the most controversial decisions in British ring history – losing to Joe Bugner in 1971, a verdict that left BBC commentator Harry Carpenter famously and volubly outraged.
Two fights after his victory against Cooper, Bugner surprisingly lost the belts to Jack Bodell after a performance whose infuriating inconsistency offered an apt synopsis of the Hungarian-born enigma’s whole career. A happier occasion for Bugner was his 1976 triple-belt bout against Richard Dunn, which he won by first-round KO.
The last time all three belts were contested there was another conclusive finish – Lennox Lewis bludgeoning Stockwell’s Derek ‘Sweet D’ Williams to defeat in three violent rounds at a packed Royal Albert Hall in 1992. Sky TV – then the rising force in the UK media – televised and the great Angelo Dundee was in Williams’ corner. I can remember the contest well and can’t believe it took place nearly 30 years ago.
If it can live up to its considerable promise, then Dubois vs Joyce has the potential to live as long in the memory as Lewis vs Williams, or even Cooper vs Bugner, and hopefully for the right reasons, rather than as a consequence of controversy or infamy.
The contrasts in age and experience between Saturday’s protagonists are marked but also complex. As pros, there is little to separate the duo: both men turned over in 2017, since when Dubois has assembled an unblemished 15-0 (14 KOs) professional ledger, having been marginally more active than Joyce, whose record stands at 11-0 (10 KOs).
Joyce has faced the sterner opposition – unusually all those who have entered the ring to face the Juggernaut boasted winning records – while in a neat twist, both men have accumulated 43 rounds in a professional ring.
Although their professional careers have run in parallel, Joyce – having recently turned 35 – is the older man by nearly 12 years. He accumulated high level amateur experience in abundance, having won Commonwealth gold in 2014 and Olympic silver in 2016 to climax a stellar unpaid career. Dubois, by contrast, although boasting extensive junior experience had only a handful of senior amateur contests.
Advantage Joyce then, in terms of experience?
In some respects yes, but in others no, for although Dubois – at 23 – is much the younger man, he has been steeped in the percussive rhythm and repetitions of boxing training since the age of nine, whereas Joyce only took the sport up at the advanced age of 22.
Dubois: 17st 6lbs 6oz – Joyce: 18st 6lbs 14oz.
As a consequence, Dubois, although he is still learning, is the smoother and more well-schooled talent of the two. Indeed, his promoter Frank Warren believes that one of Dubois’ most important attributes is his capacity and constant desire to learn and improve.
“We know he can punch, we know he’s strong, but what really impresses me is that he learns from every fight,” Warren told Boxing Social this week.
“One of his key fights was when he fought Kevin Johnson [in 2018, the only of Dubois’ fights to go the distance, as won a points decision]. Daniel basically head-hunted that whole fight and when he came out again after that fight he had changed – he started to work the body more, for example.
“He’s also got a super jab. In the [Nathan] Gorman fight [in 2019, which Dubois won by fifth-round KO] he controlled the fight by out-jabbing the boxer. It really impresses me how well and how quickly Daniel learns and the determination he’s got. All he does is live and breathe boxing. He doesn’t do anything else. And all he wants to be is the best.”
Dubois’ youth and single-minded focus on self-improvement probably indicate that he possesses a higher potential professional ceiling than Joyce, who is three years older than Tyson Fury and four years senior to Anthony Joshua and needs to move quickly if he is to make an impact on the world heavyweight scene.
As Warren pointed out to Boxing Social: “Because of his age Joe has more to lose than Daniel Dubois does. He brings a lot to the party – all that experience and that makes it a really intriguing situation. How will Daniel handle all that experience that Joe has picked up over the years?
“Also over lockdown Joe has shed a lot of weight he’s got some real definition about him, he was a bit porky before. Is that going to make him faster? Is that going to be his tactic, to try and be faster than Daniel?
“Joe is a really lovely guy, a super guy to work with and he’s going out there to prove people wrong. Daniel is a big favourite but Joe has the wherewithal to prove people wrong.”
A case can certainly be made for a Joyce win. He is a relentless, if often somewhat uncultured, fighting machine who seems to possess a decent engine and good power. With his wider breadth of experience in high-stakes fights, he may prove too much for Dubois to handle, particularly if the fight goes past six rounds.
If Joyce can withstand Dubois’ power early on then he may be able to take the younger man into deep waters. In his previous 15 fights Dubois has not been tested or had to operate under any significant pressure. How he reacts if Joyce lands hard and concussive shots to his chin and body is likely to be key to the contest.
If Joyce can hurt Dubois early and gain his respect, then one could see the Putney man’s prodigious activity levels forcing him into his shell and Joyce thus dictating the pace of the fight. Perhaps then Dubois’ inexperience and youth will tell and he will make mistakes that allow Joyce to maintain the upper hand and win a points decision, or even stop Dubois in the later rounds.
Such a scenario is definitely plausible and I think it is fair to say that backing Joyce is the value bet in this fight, with the odds-makers – to my mind – underrating his chances of success (you can get around 3-1 on a Joyce win) in what I see as very close to a 50-50 fight.
Joyce is certainly radiating laidback confidence. ““I’m quite level-headed. I just get on with it,” he told Boxing Social this week from ‘the bubble’. “It’ll be great to shut up the people that have doubted me and for them all to jump on board the ‘Juggernaut’ train.”
However, question marks remain about Joyce, specifically his training set-up. He does not seem to have spent much time with lead trainer Ismael Salas in the lead-up to the fight and the Cuban will not be in his corner after testing positive for Coronavirus subsequent to his arrival from the United States.
Dubois, unsurprisingly, rejects the notion that Joyce’s age, experience or style give him any sort of advantage. “I’m getting stronger, getting better,” he told Boxing Social. “Joe, I think, has reached the end of the line. He’s in his mid-30s and he’s ready to go now, I think.”
The younger man also convincingly insists that he does not feel under pressure heading into the fight. “Pressure? Nah. There’s always pressure before every fight, so no more than before. I know this is a big fight and there’s a lot more on the line than before, but I’m ready and prepared for it. I’ve been training most of my life for this. There’s nothing I ain’t ready for.”
Might Dubois’ confidence – bred by the invincible feeing of being young – be his undoing?
Perhaps.
But in the final analysis, despite Joyce’s undoubted assets, my tentative pick is for a Dubois win.
I think Joyce will cause Dubois some concerns and difficulties, but the key factors in the fight will be Dubois’ considerable power, his ability to adjust to the style of his opponent – as demonstrated by his impressive win against the well-schooled Nathan Gorman – and Joyce’s lack of elusive head movement.
Ultimately, I expect Dubois to be able to hit and hurt Joyce with enough regularity to secure a clear points win or a late-rounds stoppage in a fight that proves every bit the equal of some of those previous memorable battles described above for these three historic titles.