By Tim Royner: Following his second round knockout win over Razvan Cojanu (16-6, 9 KOs) last Friday night, undefeated heavyweight prospect Daniel Dubois (10-0, 9 KOs) will be fighting next month against an opponent still to be determined on April 13 at Wembley Arena in London, England.
This isn’t the Wembley Stadium we’re talking about. Dubois has a long ways to go before he reaches the level to wher he’ headlining at Wembley Stadium like we’ve seen Anthony Joshua do twice.
April 13th at Wembley, I think,” Dubois said to IFL TV when asked when he’ll be fighting next.
Dubois’ promoter would so well if he could match him up against one of these fine heavyweights:
Charles Martin
Christian Hammer
Gerald Washington
Robert Helenius
Johann Duhaupas
Artur Szpilka
David Price
Dubois is ready for that level of heavyweight at this point in his career. Price and Helenius have some power that Dubois would need to be concerned with, but he would very likely knock them out long before they got a chance to land one of their big shots. Although Dubois is only 21, he’s ready to step up to a higher class of fighter. Putting Dubois in with lesser guys at this point is wasteful. You can argue that Dubois will get more from sparring ‘Big Baby’ Jarrell Miller than he will in any number of his previous fights as a pro.
What we do know is the 21-year-old Dubois won’t be fighting Nathan Gorman (15-0, 11 KOs) next in April. Gorman, 22, will be fighting Fabio Maldonado (26-1, 25 KOs) this month on March 23 at the Leicester Arena, in Leicester, UK.
After Dubois’s fight next month, he’ll be helping out American Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller (23-0-1, 20 KOs) with sparring to get him ready for his fight against IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Dubois looked good taking out Cojanu, 31, with vicious four-punch combination in the second round that left the Romanian on his back with right leg folded underneath him like a pretzel. The job that Dubois did on Cojanu was much superior to the 12 round unanimous decision the Nathan Gorman earned in beating him last December. Gorman wasn’t able to hurt the 6’8″ Cojanu the way that Dubois did. Going by the difference in how the two heavyweights handled a common opponent, one would have to conclude that Dubois is the far superior fighter of the two compared to Gorman. Dubois should be compared more to Joe Joyce than the heavyset Gorman, who is more similar to Adam Kownacki with hi build and how he fights.
Dubois’ punching power makes him a threat against any heavyweight in the division, as long as they’re stable, and not using lateral movement to escape his pressure. Cojanu had more size than Dubois, but his lack of punching power kept him from holding him off the way he needed. For someone to have a chance against Dubois, they’ll a lot of power, a great chin, and a high ring IQ. They can’t make the mistakes that Cojanu did in going to the ropes, and covering up.