By Trevor McIntyre: Heavyweight prospect Daniel Dubois (9-0, 8 KOs) will be headlining his own card next month against an opponent still to be determined on BT at the Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, UK.
Having Dubois headline a card on the same night as Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Rocky Fielding on December 15 is a questionable move. Without question, the Canelo-Fielding fight will have a massive amount of boxing fans tuning in to see it on Sky on December 15. Dubois competing on the same night is going to force the viewers to make a tough choice.
A fight that a lot of boxing fans want to see is Dubois vs. Nathan Gorman (14-0, 11 KOs). Both guys are around the same age and at the same career development. However, it’s unlikely Dubois’ promoter will take the risk of putting him in with the heavy-handed Gorman right now. It would be a risky fight for Dubois. He’s too easy to hit, and Gorman punches very hard. It won’t be surprising if Dubois faces Sam Sexton on December 15.
As a headliner, the 6’5″ Dubois will need a quality opponent to help him attract the boxing fans to come out and see him perform. Dubois’ last fight was against 39-year-old journeyman Kevin Johnson (32-11-1, 16 KOs), who he beat by a 10 round points decision last month on October 6. The 239 lb Dubois looked slow on his feet in lumbering to a decisive win.
The fight was anything but easy for the 21-year-old Dubois, as Johnson was snapping his head back with jabs the entire 10-round fight. The performance by Dubois paled in comparison to the 2nd round knockout win by Anthony Joshua three years ago in 2015. Joshua jumped on Johnson from the start of the fight, and was hitting him at will with power shots until the referee was forced to stop the contest in the 2nd round. Dubois is often compared to Joshua in terms of talent, but he’s still far behind him in development.
On the undercard,unbeaten British super featherweight Sam Bowen (14-0, 10 KOs) will be defending his belt against challenger Ronnie Clark (21-4-2, 10 KOs). This will be the 26-year-old Bowen’s first defense of his British 130 lb title he won last April in defeating Matt Hughes. Also on the December 15 undercard is former British welterweight champion Bradley Skeete (28-2, 13 KOs) facing an opponent still to be determined, and unbeaten super flyweight prospect Sunny Edwards (9-0, 3 KOs). Skeete, 31, suffered his first loss in four years earlier this year in April in losing to Kerman Lejarraga by a 2nd round knockout. Skeete made the mistake of trying to punch with the hard-hitting Lejarraga, and he immediately paid the price in getting hurt and then stopped. It’s important that Skeete learn to box some of the bigger punchers in the sport, as he lacks the power, chin and defensive skills to stand in front of them. We saw that in Skeete’s loss to Frankie Gavin in 2014, and the same the same flaws in his game were exposed by the 26-year-old Lejarraga. Last year, Skeete was highly rated by the World Boxing Organization at welterweight, and he was in position for a title shot. That’s no longer the case following his knockout loss to Lejarraga.