Haye reacts to Dubois’ win over Gorman, Joyce victory

By Boxing News - 07/14/2019 - Comments

Image: Haye reacts to Dubois' win over Gorman, Joyce victory

By Peter Axline: David Haye was impressed with what he saw from heavyweight Daniel Dubois (12-0, 11 KOs) in his win over Nathan Gorman (16-1, 11 KOs), and Joe Joyce (10-0, 9 KOs) with his victory over Bryant Jennings (24-4, 14 KOs) last Saturday night. The two large heavyweights came out victorious in competitive fights that saw a lot of action at the O2 Arena in London, England.

Dubois, 22, showed world class talent in stopping a young prospect in 23-year-old Gorman in the fifth round to win the vacant British heavyweight title. Haye saw vast improvements in the 6’5″ Dubois’ game from how he performed in his previous contest against the heavy handed Richard Lartey last April. Dubois knocked Gorman down in round three and five. The fight was stopped after the knockdown in the fifth at the 2:41 mark.

Dubois raised his game said Haye

“Tonight, we saw what Dubois is all about against a fighter that didn’t just turn up to pickup a paycheck,” said Haye to IFL TV. “He was fighting another young, hungry undefeated heavyweight where he showed his best. He was in there with someone else. When you raise the opposition, he raises his game. When you compare this fight to his last fight against [Richard] Lartey, I wasn’t impressed; He won that fight conclusively, but I wasn’t impressed with the amount of clean shots he took, and the fact that he was mixing it up a little bit too much. This time around, it was a completely different Dubois. Obviously, him and his team reviewed the tapes, and worked on whatever they needed to work on to get his mind set,” said Haye.

Dubois had to raise his game against Gorman, because Nathan was trying to score a knockout with every punch he threw. Some of the shots that Gorman bounced off the chin of Dubois would have been knockout blows had they been thrown by WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder or Anthony Joshua. The fight showed that Dubois has got to work on his defense if he wants to beat those type of heavyweights in the future. Right now, Dubois isn’t ready for that caliber of a heavyweight.

Joyce showed he’s above British level says Haye

“His discipline and focus was just right, because he looked very, very impressive,” said Haye. He looked worlds better tonight. When he got tagged, certain fighters turn their back and take a knee. He was really swinging back some leather. Some of those shots were hard. He was tagging Dubois in some well furious exchanges. Dubois showed tonight that he was a level above British level, and I’m looking forward to which way he goes,” said Haye.

Dubois is good enough right now to beat a lot of the contenders in the heavyweight division, including Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora. The punching power, size and the composure that Dubois brings to the ring would give him an edge against those two heavyweights. Boxing fans were saying on social media last Saturday night that they believe that Dubois is good enough now to beat Anthony Joshua, and they could be right.

Joshua’s poor punch resistance, and stamina problems would make him a sitting duck against the young Dubois. A mobile heavyweight like Tyson Fury would give Dubois more problems, because he wouldn’t present a stationary target. Fury would slap and move, and try to win rounds that way. It would come down to what type of judges worked the fight. If they valued Fury’s slapping shots over the harder blows from Dubois, then Tyson would win.

Haye discusses Joe Joyce’s win over Bryant Jennings

“Joyce definitely won the fight, there’s no question about that,” said Haye about Joyce’s victory over Bryant Jennings. “I think he showed a good engine in there tonight. He went 12 rounds at a hell of a pace. I think in the last couple of rounds, he let Jennings get a little too close. He smothered his own world a little bit. When he kept it long, that jab to the body was real nice,” said Haye.

2016 Olympic super heavyweight silver medalist Joe Joyce (10-0, 9 KOs) won a 12 round unanimous decision over American Bryant Jennings (24-4, 14 KOs) in the co-feature bout on the Dubois-Gorman card last Saturday night. The fight was supposed to have been an easy one for the 33-year-old Joyce over an aging fighter, but it didn’t workout that way.

Jennings gave Joyce the fight of his life in hurting him with a body shot in round two, and pressuring him continuously. Jennings landed the better shots, but Joyce outworked him with his high volume arm punching. The judges scored it for Joyce by the scores 118-108, 117-110, and 115-110. Jennings lost a point in the tenth round after hitting Joyce low. Joyce’s slow hand speed made it easy for Jennings to land shots in between them.

Joyce getting hurt by Jennings surprised Haye

“He got caught [in the second round]. That was the first time I’ve seen him get hurt from a shot, and I’ve watched him spar hundreds of rounds,” said Haye about Joyce getting hurt in the second round by Jennings. “I’ve seen all of his fights. That’s the first time that he’s showed anything has affected him. So he’s a human being. But I think he’ll learn from that. [Trainer] Adam Booth will definitely be working that out so that it doesn’t happen again. I guarantee that whoever he fights next, they’ll be going after his bod. So he’ll work on that. It was a great learning fight,” said Haye.

It not only surprised Haye that Joyce was hurt by a body shot from Jennings, but it surprised the boxing public as well. Joyce is perceived by some to be an indestructible robot-type of heavyweight, who walks forward, eating shots, and throwing nonstop arm punches without much speed. Seeing a non-puncher like Jennings hurt Joyce to the body in round two was a surprise. Joyce kept his right hand covering his midsection for the remainder of the fight. Some boxing fans believed that Joyce had suffered a rib injury.

Joyce will learn a lot from Jennings fight says Haye

“Bryant Jennings is a consummate professional. He turned up in terrific shape,” said Haye. “A good big man beats a good little man in boxing. It’s a cliche, but it’s true. Jennings didn’t seem to have the fire power to keep Jennings off of him. But it was  really good learning fight. Joyce will have learned so much from that 12 rounds victory that what he will have done in all eight or nine of his knockout victories. For me, he truly passed the test. We all need these tough fights from time to time where you’ve got to dig in,” said Haye.

The only thing that Joyce can learn from the Jennings fight is to make sure he does a better job protecting his midsection, because that’s clearly a vulnerable area for him. Joyce can take head shots well, but his weakness is obviously to the body. The good news for Joyce is there are few body punchers in the heavyweight division in the top tier. Arguably the best of the bunch is Dillian Whyte and Andy Ruiz Jr. Those guys punch well to the body, and they’re fighters that Joyce could run into eventually.

Haye surprised that Jennings hurt Joyce

“He was hurt at one stage, but he was able to get his second wind,” said Haye about Jennings. “I seen him take a round off. I’ve never seen him take a round off. Adam [Booth] obviously said, ‘Okay, get your wind back, get your flow back,’ and he did that and it was a solid points victory on paper. I know he would have wanted a knockout. He wants 100 percent knockouts in all of his fight. But in life, you don’t always get what you want. He got a real solid victory over a world class opponent, and it was a real fight,” said Haye.

Joyce is 33-years-old now, and he’s not going to be able to continue to throw shots like a human punching machine forever. Now that Joyce is starting to fight better opposition, he’s getting hit more with major shots. That’s not good. Before Joyce’s fight with Jennings, he fought Alexander Ustinov and Bermane Stiverne. Both of those heavyweights hit Joyce with some massive shots.

Although Joyce eventually knocked them both out, he was hit hard by them. Stiverne nailed Joyce with punches that would have knocked most heavyweights out. Joyce took them, but he can’t continue to eat those kinds of shots in the future. If Joyce plans on having a long career, he’s got to start blocking some of the incoming punches.

Haye analyzes Dereck Chisora vs. Artur Szpilka fight

“A lot of people haven’t heard of [Artur] Szpilka. He’s a tricky customer,” said Haye in talking about Dereck Chisora’s next opponent for next Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London. “Dereck is going to need to be at his very best. It’s a good thing that he’s been sparring well. He’s been putting the work in inside the gym. Dereck knows he’s going to need to be at his best. How he fought in his last fight [against Senad Gashi], it’s not going to be enough to beat this guy. He’s in a genuine real fight, and if he gets a victory here, which we all hope and pray he does, he then faces Joseph Parker. He wants to fight [Chisora]. He’s done his part against [Alex] Leapai. Now it’s up to Dereck to do his thing against Szpilka, then we’ve got a huge fight [Chisora vs. Parker]”, said Haye.

Former heavyweight world title challenger Dereck Chisora (30-9, 21 KOs) will be fighting former Artur Szpilka (22-3, 15 KOs) next Saturday night on July 20 on the undercard of Dillian Whyte vs. Oscar Rivas. The fight will be taking place at the O2 Arena in London, England.

This is an important fight for the 35-year-old Chisora, because he needs a victory to setup a match against former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker for later this year. That’s a fight that has world title ramifications. The winner of the Chisora-Parker fight could soon get a title shot against the likes of Andy Ruiz Jr., Deontay Wilder or possibly Anthony Joshua, if he wins his rematch against Ruiz.

Szpilka, 30, is a winnable fight for Chisora. The Polish fighter has two vicious knockout losses in his last four fights, and he’s there to be beaten. However, Chisora is getting up there in age at 35.

Dubois to fight next in September

Dubois will be returning to the ring next September, according to his promoter Frank Warren. It could be at the Copper Box in London, England. It’s still too early to know who the young 22-year-old Dubois will be facing. It’s difficult to imagine that it’ll be someone as good as Gorman. As long as Dubois chooses to hold onto the British heavyweight title, he’ll be limited in the level of opposition he faces if it’s going to be domestic level fighters he faces.