By Eóin Kennedy
The peak duel to epitomize the Eddie Hearn-Frank Warren rivalry, AKA the Matchroom-Queensbury rivalry, was always thought to be Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury, but Daniel Dubois has found himself defending his IBF world title against Joshua on Saturday night while his stablemate Fury quietly prepares for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk. When we saw Dubois perched upon one knee staring up at Joe Joyce essentially admitting defeat in their British title fight four years ago, it wouldn’t have filled us with much confidence about his world title pedigree, but he has dug in and survived. He’s done more than survive, Dubois is the IBF world heavyweight champion and the far greater star, Joshua, must now challenge him for the title which has twice belonged to him.
Wembley Stadium in London is Joshua’s playground at this stage and while Dubois is also fighting on home soil and has experienced big fight nights in the past, none will have compared to this and he’s sure to be a little taken aback at the sight of over 90,000 fans in one venue there to see him. With that being said, many fans point out that Dubois’ general ambivalence to the world around him may actually play into his hands on Saturday night. The theory has been pedaled that some fighters show their nerves at the pre-fight press conferences when that haven’t previously been involved in events of this magnitude, but Dubois seemed at ease today throughout the press conference at the Guildhall in London, sometimes seeming to forget that he was at a press conference at all. Perhaps stress the pressure induced by the blinding floodlights and the 90,000-plus raucous fans at his country’s national stadium will just roll from Dubois like water from a duck’s back.
Whether nerves effect either of the Englishmen remains to be seen, but one opinion that has unanimous support is that the fight is not going to the judge’s score cards. Both are ferocious punchers, both tend to get hit quite a bit and both have been hurt, so expect the knockdowns to come and expect them early. This fight doesn’t have the vibe that it’s going to take very long to heat up with that hunch being further being reinforced today by Joshua’s cranky demeanor at the press conference. Dubois doesn’t seem to be showing his compatriot the level of respect that he feels is owing to him and it has irked the former two-time champion. When Joshua is moody its good for the fans as it lends to him going after his opponent with the intent to not just win but to inflict pain.
The immediate rewards on offer for both men are obvious; for Dubois, he gets to retain his world title, collect one of the biggest scalps in modern heavyweight history and stride onwards to multi-million-dollar fights in the next phase of Turki Al-Sheik’s Saudi Arabian boxing takeover. For Joshua, well, the same financial rewards (in fact greater given the strength of his global brand), the opportunity to finally make the fight of the era against Tyson Fury, and maybe most importantly of all at this stage in Joshua’s career, victory would mean he would become a three-time heavyweight world champion, equaling Muhammed Ali’s record. A lot will be at stake for fighters and promoters alike in London on Saturday night, and regardless of the victor, don’t expect to be arguing about the quality of the ringside judging in this one.