Daniel Dubois lost a bruising 2020 heavyweight battle to Joe Joyce; trainer Shane McGuigan says Dubois is ready to fight Joyce again in the near future; Joyce vs Joseph Parker can still be made, promoter Ben Shalom tells Sky Sports
Thursday 14 July 2022 15:07, UK
Daniel Dubois is ready to rematch Joe Joyce in the near future, says his trainer Shane McGuigan.
Dubois lost a bruising encounter with Joyce in 2020, when Joyce ground him down and ultimately stopped Dubois with a damaged eye.
Dubois has rebuilt since then, most recently beating Trevor Bryan in America to secure a WBA 'regular' heavyweight belt, a secondary title to the WBA heavyweight championship Oleksandr Usyk holds.
But the belt gives Dubois some leverage and could tempt Joyce into a rematch.
"Joe Joyce has just won at the weekend [beating Christian Hammer in four rounds] and looked his typical self. He got hit a lot but he also overwhelmed his opponent Hammer in very quick fashion so he's a very hard night's work for anyone," Shane McGuigan, Dubois' trainer, told Sky Sports News.
"Maybe that's a fight we can get down the line. Maybe in the not-too-distant future because they're both at that stage of their careers. The fight was in the balance, the first one, so it'll be a good fight as well."
Dubois joined McGuigan's gym after the Joyce fight and his new trainer believes that he is ready to take on Joyce again, even though the rival London heavyweight is a formidable opponent.
"I think so. I think it's a very hard fight but it's a fight that he can win with the right strategy, with the right gameplan," McGuigan said.
"I don't think either of them performed to their best ability. Joe had much more in the tank, he was still boxing reserved, boxing clever and Daniel was distressed with the eye. So he was doing certain things that he naturally shouldn't do or wouldn't do if he was in full health.
"It maybe came a little bit too soon, not just for Dan but probably for both of them. Because it could have been built into a much bigger spectacle. If we can get it again, it would be amazing."
But if not, there will be other options for Dubois. "There are some great fights out there for him. You've got [Dereck] Chisora vs [Kubrat] Pulev. I think Pulev will probably win that fight, Pulev's a great fight for someone like Daniel if he comes through the Chisora one," McGuigan continued.
"Dillian Whyte's a great fight for Daniel. I'm not sure Dillian will want it because of where he is in his career. There's easier fights for him that will make more money and draw more attention, so that one might be a hard one to make.
"Also the fact that Dan's got a WBA 'regular' title can help bring in decent names. So there's quite a lot of opponents. But I would like someone that's known, someone that people know, whether it's a former [Anthony Joshua] opponent, even a former Dillian Whyte opponent, [where] he can try and better that performance."
However, promoter Ben Shalom believes the stalled talks to match Joe Joyce with Joseph Parker can be restarted.
"I think there is [a chance the fight can still happen]. I've got a lot of respect for Frank [Warren, Joyce's promoter]," said Shalom, who represents Parker.
"Joseph Parker was being almost told that he was avoiding fights and he was avoiding this and I wanted to make it clear that he wasn't.
"Look at Joseph Parker's resume, he's never avoided a fight in his life. Joseph asked us to put in that offer, we put in that offer, it's a huge amount of money. It's a huge opportunity for Joe [Joyce] as well, we feel.
"No disrespect to Frank. We want to work with other promoters. Shields-Marshall doesn't get made unless we work with other promoters, Mayer-Baumgardner, our chief support, Top Rank and Matchroom are involved in that on our card. So that's a direction we'd like to go in."
If that fight can't be made, Parker can move on to target other opponents. "I want him out at the end of September, early October. We're looking at Otto Wallin, we're looking at Dillian Whyte, he wants Martin Bakole. He's looking at a lot of fights," Shalom said.
"He'd like Joe Joyce and Dillian Whyte, they're his top two priorities. If he can't get them, he'll fight anyone.
"He's extremely well-positioned with the WBO, extremely well-positioned with the WBC and I think he will fight for a world title again. That's the aim."
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