Matchroom promoter, Eddie Hearn, has congratulated Daniel Dubois for making easy money due to his mandatory position’s potential to stand in the way of an undisputed fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
Dubois currently holds the WBA Regular world title after defeating Trevor Bryan by fourth-round knockout back in June 2022. This belt has aided Dubois’ pursuit of a world title by placing him in the position as the mandatory challenger for the full WBA Super title, currently held by Usyk.
As a deal for the undisputed fight draws closer, the WBA have made it clear that their mandatory – Dubois – is next in line for a shot. Hearn believes that Dubois is in for a big step-aside fee to allow Usyk him to instead fight Fury.
In an interview with iFL TV, Hearn applauded the ‘golden position’ that the young fighter has got himself into.
“I’m sure Fury-Usyk will get made. I don’t know when, obviously we have got Ramadan coming up, I think people are talking about May.
The problem is going to be that the WBA have decided that their mandatory is next, so Daniel Dubois is in the golden position. Ultimately, he is in a step-aside stakes for that fight, so congratulations to Daniel Dubois, he is about to get a lot of free money, whilst Filip Hrgovic is the IBF mandatory.”
Frank Warren – who promotes both Fury and Dubois – has said that the WBA situation will not stand in the way of the undisputed bout. He hasn’t revealed any sort of fee for ‘Dynamite’ Dubois.
Hearn went on to highlight the opportunities that will be presented to the heavyweight contenders in the near future, as titles become vacant. However, he also explained that Anthony Joshua’s ambitions of becoming a three-time champion would not get in the way of fights against the big names.
“The winner of that fight is going to get hit with all kinds of mandatories. This always happens with undisputed; you saw it with Josh Taylor, a lot of these world heavyweight title belts are going to become vacant.
Belts are always important, and I feel like the aim for ‘AJ’ is to become world heavyweight champion, but the Tyson Fury fight or the Deontay Wilder fight, if they come with a belt, fantastic, but do they need a belt? No, not really.”
Whilst negotiations continue between Fury and Usyk, a date for Anthony Joshua’s comeback has been all-but-confirmed, with the Brit set to return on April 1.
As for Dubois, he may have another runout before an inevitable title shot.