2023 saw Daniel Dubois get his career back on track with a big win and now he has been ordered to fight for a European title.
Dubois is just 26 years old but has already seen plenty of highs and lows in his career. The big puncher started out with wins against the likes of Nathan Gorman and Kevin Johnson before being put in with the vastly more experienced Joe Joyce back in 2020.
That contest proved a step too far at that particular time and ended with him allowing himself to be counted out on one knee owing to a badly damaged orbital socket that Joyce had targeted throughout the fight with stiff jabs.
In his comeback fight, he struggled with a knee injury that saw him felled three times in the first round before eventually rallying to stop Kevin Lerana in the third round.
In August last year, he took on unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and was stopped in the ninth round after putting up a valiant showing early in the fight.
After absorbing some early pressure from ‘Big Baby’, Dubois made his own work show and eventually got on top of Miller and stopped him in the dying seconds of the 10th and final round just weeks after being warned his career could be over had he not won.
In a post on X, it has been revealed who he might fight next.
“The EBU have now officially ordered Daniel Dubois vs Ryad Merhy for the vacant European heavyweight title. Purse bids Feb 13th.”
Merhy is a 31-year-old Ivorian-born Belgian who has previously held a WBA regular cruiserweight title. In December he secured his best win – a split decision over former Olympian Tony Yoka, while he lost on points to Kevin Lerena in May of last year.
This represents a good chance for Dubois to win a legitimate title on his way to world honours.