Just 7-0, with all seven wins coming by KO inside three rounds, towering London heavyweight Daniel Dubois is right now THE young heavyweight prospect to watch – in the UK certainly. Having caused some buzz already, the 6’5,” 20 year old (21 in September) has some huge, huge expectations on his broad shoulders.
The softly spoken powerhouse who has reminded some fans of a young Sonny Liston has taken all the attention with a smile, thus far refusing to let it go to his head. His promoter Frank Warren has bigged Dubois up in a major way and this Saturday night at The O2 Arena, the prospect will go for his first major (ish) pro title. Dubois will face Tom Little, 10-5(3) for the English heavyweight title. And these two have had quite a war of words in the lead-up to the fight. At least Little has has quite a bit to say; Dubois, very much a ‘I do my talking in the ring’ type of guy, rarely comes out with any trash-talk. It is perhaps a sign of Little getting to Dubois that the 30 year old got Dubois to answer back to him yesterday.
Little insists this fight has come “far too early for Dubois” and that he will “be drilling that ribcage and I will drown Daniel very slowly.”
To this, Dubois shot back, “You are a weak man and I’m going to show you that on Saturday!”
Little later joked how he should get a pay rise for having managed to get Dubois to talk.
Now, can Little manage to extend Dubois? Little insiste he will derail Dubois but most fans feel the express train will continue running smoothly, however, we might get an interesting fight on Saturday, for however long it lasts. Dubois has yet to be extended beyond the third-round and Little does carry a good deal of pro experience. Still, the pick has to be Dubois to win.
Already, Dubois has scored some chilling KO’s; ones where, seconds after his final punch has landed, his felled opponent has needed either oxygen or a stretcher – or both. It is of course too early to get too excited; we need to see Dubois handle a hard shot, either to the chin or to the body, and we need to see how his stamina holds up in a long fight – and maybe we will get some answers on Saturday.
If Little – who has been stopped twice – can carry his confident demeanour into the ring with him and if he lets his hands go, we could have quite the fun fight on Saturday.
