In a shocking upset, Joe Joyce (12-0, 11 KOs) stopped previously unbeaten heavyweight Daniel Dubois (15-1, 14 KOs) in the 10th round on Saturday night at the Westminster House, in London, England.
Joyce, 35, wore down the stronger inexperienced 23-year-old Dubois with his power jabs and closed his left eye. In the 10th, Dubois took a knee and stayed down from eating too many jabs. In other words, Dubois basically quit.
It would be interesting to see what Dubois’ promoter Frank Warren’s next move will be. Does he push for a rematch or try and rebuild Dubois against lesser fighters, which is basically the type of guys he’s been fighting his entire four-year pro career.
Had Dubois gotten some experience against B-level fighters, he might have had a chance tonight, but he’s faced way too many C-level guys that he’s padded his inflated record with. Tonight, Dubois paid dearly for all these years of facing weak opposition.
Undercard live results for Daniel Dubois vs. Joe Joyce:
Hamzah Sheeraz TKOs Guido Nicolas Pitto
Unbeaten junior middleweight contender Hamzah Sheeraz (12-0, 8 KOs) defeated Guido Nicolas Pitto (26-8-2, 8 KOs) by a 10th round knockout.
The referee suddenly jumped in and halted the fight prematurely in the 10th after Sheerez landed a series of shots.
Pitto probably would have made it out of the round, but he was taking a shellacking anyway so it’s no big deal that the contest was stopped suddenly. The time of the stoppage was at 1:10 of the 10th.
Jack Catterall decisions Abderrazak Houya
Highly ranked #1 WBO 140-lb contender Jack Catterall (27-0, 13 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a lopsided 10 round points decision over little known Abderrazak Houya (14-3, 2 KOs). The score was 99-90.
Catterall dominated from start to finish in dominating Houya with jabs and counter shots. It was an impressive performance from Catterall with him knocking down Houya in the sixth round. Three rounds later, Catterall dropped Houya a second time.
In 2021, Catterall will be fighting for the WBO light-welterweight title against the winner of the Jose Ramirez vs. Josh Taylor unification fight. Taylor has already made it known that he’ll defend the WBO title against Catterall rather than vacating it to move up to 147.
David Adeleye destroys Danny Whittaker
Undefeated heavyweight knockout artist David Adeleye (4-0, 4 KOs) made short work of Danny Whittaker (4-2) in stopping him in the second round.
After an uneventful first round, the big punching Adeleye knocked Whittaker down two times in the second. The massacre was then halted at 2:09 of round two.
Jack Massey decisions Mohammad Ali Bayat Farid
Cruiserweight prospect Jack Massey (17-1, 8 KOs) defeated Mohammad Ali Bayat Farid (16-2-1, 16 KOs) by an eight-round decision with a 79-74 score.
Preview:
Underdog Joe Joyce (11-0, 10 KOs) battles heavy favorite Daniel Dubois (15-0, 14 KOs) in a 12-round bout tonight for the vacant EBU heavyweight title on ESPN+ [United States] and BT Sport [United Kingdom].
For boxing fans wondering how to watch Dubois vs. Joyce tonight, they can see the fight on those two network platforms.
The 35-year-old Joyce will be trying to show that age is just a number as he goes after the 23-year-old Dubois to wear him out and knock him out.
You can argue that a win for Joyce would be a massive setback for British boxing because Dubois is the future for the country and heavyweight. Joyce doesn’t have much time left in his career, so he’s not someone that you can build around to carry the division for the next ten years.
Joyce-Dubois is expected to be war from start to finish, as neither of these two warriors has a reverse gear. Of the two, Joyce has the better footwork, and he’s shown the ability to adapt in fights because he’s had to.
The 2016 Olympic silver medalist Joyce’s slow hands have made it necessary for him to develop other parts of his game to win. In the case of Dubois, he hasn’t changed any part of his game because he’s run over his opposition like a steam train.
Whether Dubois can win tonight with that kind of fighting style is going to be interesting to see. Joyce has proven to have a pretty good chin, and he may be able to take Dubois’ best shots without going down or backing off.
The question is, can Joyce wear Dubois out by taking everything he can dish out for six to eight rounds so that he can start landing his own big shots?
Joyce, 35, and Dubois are both hoping to put themselves in the position to fight for a world title in 2021 for the WBO belt if or when Anthony Joshua vacates. If it plays out like many believe it will, Joshua will vacate the WBO strap, and then #1 Oleksander Usyk will battle Dubois or Joyce.
Dubois is the type of fighter that needs to take rest breaks, as his cardio isn’t what it needs to be for him to throw punches for three minutes of each round. If Joyce can catch Dubois while he’s trying to take a rest break, he could knock him out.
That’s something that Dubois’ promoter Frank Warren might not have foreseen happening when he put this fight together, but it’s a reality. In contact sports, sometimes the player with superior cardio gets the better of their more talented opponents.
Other than the main event, the undercard looks like it was thrown together without much thought. That’s the disappointing part. The card has so much potential, but unfortunately, the undercard has nothing but poor mismatches.
