Daniel Dubois got here by an unexpectedly thrilling bout with South Africa’s Kevin Lerena on the Tyson Fury undercard final weekend.
The Londoner was anticipated to be far an excessive amount of for Lerena who had solely boxed at heavyweight thrice beforehand after transferring up from cruiserweight.
Nevertheless it was Dubois who discovered himself on the canvas thrice within the first spherical. Lerena landed a tough left early on, placing Dubois down closely.
Britain’s Daniel Dubois celebrates his victory over Lerena
“He bought caught early and the primary shot was a very good one. Usually you get caught with a couple of jabs and also you type of settle your manner into the facility and the combat,” Dubois’ coach Shane McGuigan advised Sky Sports activities.
“He bought caught on the highest of the top and his legs went. He principally hyper-extended his knee.”
Below stress, Dubois went down twice extra within the first spherical with out taking one other clear punch.
“The subsequent two knockdowns weren’t knockdowns. He took a knee as a result of he knew one thing wasn’t proper. So he did the fitting factor. It ended up being a 10-6 spherical, so we had been three rounds down after the primary spherical with a man with a nasty knee and I had a call to make,” McGuigan defined.
“[He was] not disorientated in any respect as a result of he knew precisely what shot it was. In case you take a look at the footage, he says, ‘I do not know what occurred.’ [He meant] I do not know what occurred to my knee.
A combat with Daniel Dubois might make sense for Anthony Joshua
“The subsequent spherical I stated simply get in your jab. Simply transfer round. Simply get your foot beneath you and he did that. Then in spherical three he walked him onto a peach of a proper hand and stopped him.
“He regrouped and did rather well and confirmed lots of mettle. As a result of individuals had questioned his psychological energy.”
It meant Dubois efficiently defended the WBA ‘common’ title, a secondary belt to the WBA championship that unified titlist Oleksandr Usyk holds.
Dubois, subsequently, continues to be a compulsory challenger for Usyk however he’ll be out of motion for some time as he recovers from the damage.
“As quickly as he bought hit, as he went to step, he put his weight on his heel and he hyperextended his knee,” McGuigan stated.
“We’ll need to gauge it and work out whether or not it wants a minor operation or whether or not we simply can do good rehab. Both manner, I do not see him boxing till most likely Could time, April, Could.”
Daniel Dubois makes use of his energy to get out of bother towards Lerena
Whereas the ‘common’ title is just not considered a significant belt, it would nonetheless be a tempting prize for giant names within the division like Anthony Joshua or Dillian Whyte.
Moreover, Shane McGuigan thinks in the event that they now understand vulnerabilities in Dubois, they could be extra inclined to take a combat with him.
“Perhaps. If we will have that [Anthony Joshua] combat, why not? Positively. It comes right down to getting individuals on the proper time. AJ may assume he is getting Daniel on the proper time when he hasn’t bought the expertise and probably he may assume [Dubois’] confidence could be missing,” McGuigan stated.
“However we additionally must take a look at that combat and assume, we’re getting him on the proper time. Nevertheless it’s right down to Martin Bowers [Dubois’ manager] and Frank [Warren, his promoter], which might be going to be matching his subsequent transfer. Clearly, we sit down and we focus on it.
“Nobody’s ever been queuing as much as combat Daniel. Particularly the massive names as a result of they assume, ‘I will stroll into heavy pictures there and he is bought a puncher’s probability and what’s there actually to realize from it?’
“He is bought the WBA ‘common’ title. He is additionally confirmed of their eyes a little bit of weak point in that final combat.
“Hopefully they’re going to step ahead,” the coach added.
“I believe Dillian Whyte’s good. He is simply come off a win. Apparently he would not need the AJ combat in the intervening time. I do not know if AJ’s going to be prepared in that timeframe. That may be nice for us.”
