Daniel Dubois can become ‘world’ champion tomorrow…but WBA have diluted meaning of their title

Daniel Dubois can become a ‘world’ heavyweight champion tomorrow night. But while it might be a significant step in the right direction, nobody can say that the title he is zoned in on winning is one of the major belts in the division.

That is not meant as any kind of criticism of the 24-year-old, who has the power, physical attributes and time on his side to emerge as a major player in the most lucrative weight class in the sport.

But it is indicative of the proliferation of titles that it is hard to say with absolute conviction what the pecking order is once you move past Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.

The World Boxing Association has two levels of world title holders. The top one is their ‘super’champion Usyk, who is due to rematch Anthony Joshua in the next couple of months.

Then comes New Yorker Trevor ‘The Dream’ Bryan, who is their standard ‘world’ champion.

Quite why you need to add even more belts into the mix – aside from a governing body being able to hoover up extra sanctioning fees – is just an added complication.

Dubois hopes that by beating Bryan this weekend in Miami he will push his claim to face the winner of Usyk-Joshua II, even though if the Brit prevails then it will surely tempt Tyson Fury to postpone any retirement plans for one more colossal payday.

Greenwich’s Dubois (17-1, 16 KOs) is a huge betting favourite against Bryan (22-0, 15KOs), who has held the title since an 11th-round stoppage of Bermane Stiverne in January.

But Dubois was also hugely fancied before he quit in the 10th round against Joe Joyce in November 2020.

Joyce took care of Stiverne in six rounds in early 2019. That’s just shy of two years before Stiverne, who had been inactive and not won a bout since 2015, challenged Bryan for the vacant WBA belt.

Dubois has been matched carefully since that morale-sapping and confidence-eroding encounter with Joyce.

Joyce’s superb durability meant he was able to absorb Dubois’ heavy artillery and cause significant damage with his own.

Dubois’ left eye was swollen shut and eventually the highly-touted prospect, bewildered, bruised and battered, took a knee and did not look to beat referee Ian John-Lewis’ count. At the time he was ahead on two of the three judges’ scorecards but Joyce was coming on strong down the final stretch.

Dubois’ reaction to the setback was to make a training change. He has been guided by Shane McGuigan, the son of Irish ring legend Barry, for his last two bouts.

The combined records of Bogdan Dinu and Joe Cusumano might have been 39 victories and five defeats, but both were pliable cannon fodder.

All four of Dinu’s losses have been inside the distance and his credibility was eroded by the end of 2019 after knockout losses to Jarrell Miller and Kubrat Pulev.

American Cusumano lasted less than a round when Dubois started unloading in August in Cleveland.

Even if the South Londoner does inflict a first defeat on Bryan, it might again not tell us a whole lot about what he can go on to achieve. There are a fair few opponents on Dubois’ record who looked impressive on paper but looked way out of their depth.

Whether Bryan can buck that trend remains to be seen.

Veteran American promoter Don King won the purse bid to stage the fight, opting for the Casino Miami Jai Alai, but BT Sport, who have the TV rights in the UK, have arranged for it to go ahead at around 11.30pm over here.

“On paper it’s the biggest fight of my life – I’m not taking anything for granted,” said Dubois, who has boxed just 56 rounds since turning professional in 2017. “It’s really up to me how I make this fight turn out.

“It’s been a bit frustrating – the waiting [for the Bryan bout] but you have to be patient in this game. That’s what we’ve done. Now it’s time to deliver.”

McGuigan, as expected, is not downplaying Bryan’s threat.

“He is a gym rat and has been around it a long time,” he said. “He does a lot of heavy sparring and must be capable if he is still unbeaten and still winning.

“There are concerns everywhere you go [about the judges when boxing away from your home country] but we’ll make it so one-sided if it does go to a points decision that there is only one winner.

“Daniel has done two 12 rounds in camp and sparred about four sets of 10, as well, with three fresh sparring partners. He is really fit for this one, in a great place mentally and he’s buzzing.”

Dubois has the backing to open doors if he does chalk up career win number 18. Promoter Frank Warren has shown time and again he can manoeuvre his fighters into the most sought-after encounters.

So is Dubois ready for Joshua or Usyk?

“Those fights don’t come around very often,” said McGuigan. “If you can get a chance to fight for all those belts then why wouldn’t you? But there are lots of politics in the heavyweight division.

“If Usyk comes through the Joshua fight he is probably going to want to get Tyson Fury. There might be the option of fighting the winner of Michael Hunter-Hughie Fury, they are boxing a WBA eliminator.

“There are great fights out there, even if we make a defence against someone the British public know, like Dillian Whyte. He [Whyte] will have to have a win before he is going to take it. Daniel wants to mix it with the top guys.”

THE MAJOR PLAYERS IN THE HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION

Oleksandr Usyk (Ukrainian)
The 35-year-old southpaw was a top amateur and has backed that up since going professional. Won a unanimous points decision over Anthony Joshua in September 2021 to win the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO titles. Formerly undisputed world cruiserweight champion.

Tyson Fury (British)
The self-titled Gypsy King holds the WBC belt but was emphatic he would be retiring after his sixth-round KO of Dillian Whyte in April. The 33-year-old is in his prime and the lure of unifying all the belts could entice him to glove up again.

Anthony Joshua (British)
The Olympic gold medallist has struggled to fully recover from his huge upset stoppage loss to Andy Ruiz Jnr. There is a real air of vulnerability around Joshua and he looked reluctant to engage as he lost all his belts to Usyk at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They are due to rematch before the end of the year.

Deontay Wilder (American)
The Bronze Bomber has not boxed since his five-knockdown epic with Fury in October 2021 which ended in an 11th-round defeat. Exciting and carrying genuine one-punch finishing power, he remains a major draw if he wants to try and add another chapter to his career.