Daniel Dubois lands WBA World title shot at holder Trevor Bryan
Don King outbids Frank Warren to host world title fight on June 18
The Hall of Fame promoter’s Don King Productions secured the rights to the WBA 'Regular' heavyweight title fight between unbeaten titlist Trevor Bryan (22-0, 15KOs) and top-rated contender Daniel Dubois (17-1, 16KOs).
Bryan’s legendary promoter triumphed in the purse bids with a larger offer of $3,116,001 to outdo British promoter Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions, who bid $2,503,000 on Monday, March 21.
The champion, Bryan, is entitled to 55% ($1,713,800.55) of the bid, with the remaining 45% ($1,402,200.45) going to mandatory challenger Dubois, 24 from London.
The fight has been ordered to take place no later than July 28, which is exactly 180 days from Bryan’s successful voluntary title defense against Jonathan Guidry, which Bryan won by unanimous decision on January 29 in Warren, Ohio.
Despite holding all the cards, King submitted a proposed date of June 18 for the fight to take place in London, New York or South Florida.
Bryan has previously stated his desire to fight in London, directly responding to Dubois that he plans to begin his campaign overseas against him. However, the New Yorker would also relish fighting at home in front of a local crowd in his northeastern state. Now residing in Fort Lauderdale, florida is also an interesting prospect to the 32-year-old.
Had Queensberry won, Warren was planning on adding the heavyweight clash to his Zach Parker-Demetrius Andrade WBO interim super middleweight stadium show on May 21 at Pride Park.
Dubois was forced to rebuild after a devastating 10th-round knockout to domestic rival Joe Joyce in 2020. Dubois led on two of the three scorecards after nine rounds but was counted out after taking a knee due to the pain inflicted from fractured left eye socket, which later required surgery. Joyce targeted the damaged eye all fight long, peppering the area with jabs until his injured opponent could take no more punishment.
Just six months on, 'Dynamite' Dubois bounced back with victory over Romanian Bogden Dinu in two rounds, followed by a first-round knockout on his US debut over tough Italian-American Joe Cusumano in August last year.
Bryan currently holds the “Regular” version of the WBA heavyweight title, which is disregarded by many fight fans. The primary “Super” version of the title is currently in the possession of Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13KOs), who also owns the IBF, WBO, and IBO belts.
The outstanding Ukrainian remains contractually bound to a rematch with former two-time heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22KOs), though the plans were previously on hold due to Usyk having to bear arms during the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war.
The WBA is up next in the mandatory challenger rotation. The only disruption would be if the winner of Usyk-Joshua II is granted permission to enter into an undisputed heavyweight championship with the winner of the WBC title fight between Tyson Fury (31-0-1, 22KOs) and Dillian Whyte (28-2, 19KOs).
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