British heavyweight Daniel Dubois will return to the ring on March 19.
The number one contender with the World Boxing Association (WBA) not only used 2021 as a rebuilding year following his only career loss to Joe Joyce in 2020 but one as time to work with new trainer Shane McGuigan. The knockout specialist has 16 wins in 17 fights with every victory coming inside the distance including those against Bogdan Dinu and Joe Cusumano last year.
No opponent or venue has been confirmed for the ‘Dynamite’ 24-year-old, but his promoter Frank Warren told Boxing Social what he wants to happen.
“I’m hoping it’s going to be for the WBA (World) title because he’s the official challenger on their latest rankings so we’re pushing for that.”
The title holder is American Trevor Bryan while the organisation’s ‘Super’ champion is Oleksandr Usyk. Their may, however, be a problem with Bryan fighting Dubois in just over two months. The unbeaten New Yorker is scheduled to fight at the Packard Music Hall in, ironically enough, Warren, Ohio on January 29. As things stand right now in the opposite corner is TBA after plans to fight Manuel Charr fell through. Should Bryan’s voluntary defence this month go ahead then that would leave just seven weeks until the Dubois fight date.
As for Dubois’ rival Joe Joyce (13-0, 12 KOs), who last time out in July impressively stopped Carlos Takam, Warren hopes his WBO number one contender will be back out in April or May after recovering from a fractured wrist he suffered before Christmas.
“Joyce was in the mix, before his injury, that’s the shame of it all,” Warren says. “He’s the number one with the WBO. He’s done extremely well for himself. He’s tough and shown what he is. He’s got a granite chin, it’s amazing what he does and he’s relentless.
“If ever a moniker was apt, it’s for him, ‘The Juggernaut’. He can’t be stopped. He keeps rolling forward and he lets his shots go and wears people down and stops them. He’s well and truly in the mix. It’s a shame what happened because he was due to fight in February but hopefully the injury heals cleanly and quickly, and he’ll be out and in with a ranked fighter.
“I want to see Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce in a position, that once the top tier of the heavyweights gets sorted out between Tyson and Usyk, where they are the next guys to fight for the titles at the end of the year. And they are in good positions thanks to our hard work and their endeavours in the ring. As far as the UK is concerned there is going to be plenty of action from the British heavyweights this year.”