Former WBA featherweight world champion Barry McGuigan has offered his prediction ahead of the well-rumoured all-British heavyweight title showdown between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois, clearly leaning towards one man.
Dubois used to train under Shane McGuigan, son of Barry, until ‘Triple D’ decided to make the switch to Don Charles around 12 months ago.
Since partnering up with Charles, Dubois has shown a marked improvement, giving Oleksandr Usyk a run for his money and then stringing together two career-best wins over Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic to position himself for a shot at Anthony Joshua and the soon-to-be vacant IBF heavyweight title.
With an announcement expected imminently, Barry McGuigan maintained that Joshua would likely be too much for the 26-year-old but refused to rule out Dubois – whom he believes to have the X factor required to possess a ‘puncher’s’ chance, ‘The Clones Cyclone’ told Seconds Out.
“The thing about Dubois is that Dubois can punch so hard that it only takes a split-second. You give him an opportunity, you create the space, you come over the top of a left-jab, anybody he hits – he can knock them out. Having said that, Joshua is the favourite but you have got to give Dubois a chance with anybody.
“He was losing to Hrgovic, Hrgovic was beating him comprehensively and then that cut happened and it was all over. But he has got a tremendous punch and you have got to give him a chance with anybody. Again, I make Joshua [the favourite], Joshua is the more complete fighter, he is better all-round, he can box and fight, so I definitely think that Joshua will be too much for him. He [Dubois] has got a puncher’s chance.”
Huge All-Irish Boxing Showdown Signed Under One Condition
Additionally, McGuigan responded to those who question Dubois’ heart following his decisions to twice take a knee and sit out the referee’s count in his two career defeats against Joe Joyce and Usyk.
“It seems that when he gets into a critical situation, when he gets tired, dare I say it – there is a bit of quit in him. I don’t want to be unfair just because he left the gym, I am just being honest. You look at the fight against Usyk and you look at the fight against Joe [Joyce], similar circumstances, people said that he quit, he had an eye injury against Joyce and he got out-schooled by Usyk but he had him down!
“Those are pretty high standards that he is keeping up to, I think Joshua is the favourite but in heavyweight boxing it only takes a split-second of a lack of concentration and you land a clean punch and then the fight is over.”
Joshua-Dubois is set to be yet another event staged by Saudi catalyst Turki Al-Alshikh and the first to take place on British shores, with a launch press conference for the Wembley Stadium card poised to go ahead on Wednesday June 26th.
