Daniel Dubois revealed his hitlist: “AJ, Fury, Usyk”
After the South London powerhouse, Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19KO), defeated 333lbs American, Jarrell Miller, in Saudi Arabia on December 23, the 26-year-old now looks ahead for all the big names in 2024.
Immediately after his comeback win against the unbeaten New Yorker in Riyadh, he listed all the opponents he wants to fight in the New Year, “AJ. All the big boys. AJ, Fury, Usyk rematch, come on!”
The 20th win of his six-year career saw him come back from his world title loss to Oleksandr Usyk last August, where he was dropped twice by the unified champion from Ukraine and stopped in round nine.
It was the second loss on his record, having been stopped in 11 rounds by British rival, Joe Joyce in 2020. That first reverse on his record took a lot of soul searching for him to come back from, and surgery on his eye socket, but he did so remarkably well, reeling off four stoppages in a row – in rounds one, two, three, and four – to culminate in becoming the WBA Regular World champion.
And now, he has bounced back even stronger from his second loss to overcome an opponent unbeaten in 27 bouts and 100lbs heavier. Miller came on strong rounds 3-6 with his unrelenting aggression and advancements, but Dubois made adjustments to dominate the later rounds and eventually stop the 24stone behemoth in the 10th and final round with just eight seconds to go.
“I had a lot of things going on in my life and my head that I needed sort out, and tonight was a part of my redemption and recovery process,” Dubois revealed minutes after his latest victory. “We’re out to win, and that’s what we did. I’ve got a lot of maturing to do, a lot of things to learn, I was scrappy in there but we came through it.”
Trainer Don Charles praised his heavyweight charge after the fight for being able to stop a man known for his durability and sheer size and strength, stating that to stop a 25stone man is no mean feat.
Promoter Frank Warren told TalkSPORT, “For me, Dubois could fight any of those guys in the top 10. Even AJ would be a good fight. I'd watch that all day long.”
Dubois rose to fame before he even stepped into a professional ring for dropping Joshua in sparring, when the youngster was just a prospect and AJ was a world champion.
After proposed opponent Deontay Wilder lost his fight to Joseph Parker, Anthony Joshua could be looking for a different match in March 2024, and Dubois would be a welcomed name to the mix, which also includes Croatian Filip Hrgovic.
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