In December, in London (England), local WBA World heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois (19-1, 18 KOs) made his debut defense of his belt and almost knocked out Kevin Lerene from South Africa by knockout in the starting round – twisted his leg, forced to take his knee three times.
The big man managed to calm down, seized the initiative and soon knocked out the challenger. According to ex-world champion and current boxing columnist Johnny Nelson, now all the heavyweights of the world dream of a duel with Dubois.
“After this fight, a lot of fighters will be licking their lips looking in Daniel’s direction,”
thinks Nelson. “I saw what many saw. Dubois has what I would call one bad feature. What I mean? The fact that when it hurts in the ring, he then starts to fall even without missed punches. You know, things like this become a bad habit and you can’t control it anymore. So I think that now everyone will suddenly want to fight him.”
Nelson nevertheless tried to pay tribute to his compatriot, but he did not succeed very well: “No doubt, Dubois has a good shot. I would say this: he hits well, but holds badly.
Immediately after this fight, information appeared that the result could be changed – the promoter of the applicant threatens to sue. Almost the next day after the fight, the WBA decided that Usyk would fight Dubois, and Hrgovic would wait. But it turned out that the Briton has not yet claimed this fight – and there are reasons for that. What if Dubois outruns Joyce in pursuit of Usyk? The juggernaut is shocked.