As fans know, we will see two power-punching British heavyweights at Wembley in September as former two-time heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua challenges Daniel Dubois for the IBF belt. On paper, AJ will become a three-time heavyweight ruler if he beats Dubois. However, in all truth, Joshua will have regained a portion of the crown, with his two-time conqueror Oleksandr Usyk being the real-world champion and everyone knowing it.
Still, it would be a good win for Joshua, and the holding of the IBF belt could only help his career as far as him being able to negotiate a deal for a bigger fight down the road.. But will Joshua beat Dubois?
Frank Warren, of course, the promoter of Tyson Fury, says Dubois will KO Joshua, ending Joshua and Eddie Hearn’s lofty plans of facing the Usyk-Fury rematch winner. Speaking with Talk Sport, Warren said his guy Dubois is a bigger puncher than Joshua and that, at age 26, he has matured and really come into his own as a fighter.
Warren says Dubois has learned from it. The two losses he has suffered (to Joe Joyce and Usyk) and that he will shock AJ on September 21. Plenty of other people feel the opposite: Joshua will connect with a bomb of a right hand on Dubois’ chin, and that will be that. Certainly, Dubois was there to be hit with the right hand in his last fight when he stopped Filip Hrgovic from taking the interim IBF belt (Usyk, since vacating, Dubois elevated to the full belt-holder).
And If – or when – Joshua lands flush with the right the way Hrgovic did again and again, it could be curtains for Dubois. But Dubois can bang himself, and we could witness a real explosion in this fight. Whoever lands first wins? Maybe.
Joshua and Dubois hit very hard, and as Warren says, both men have an excellent left jab. Styles make fights, though, and Dubois looks almost tailor-made for AJ from this vantage point. I’m afraid I have to disagree with Warren when he says Dubois carries the greater firepower, too. But this fight will be exciting, end via KO, most likely violent, and a sold-out Wembley will be rocking on the night.
My pick is Joshua inside two dominant rounds. Warren says otherwise. What do you guys think?