By Barry Holbrook: Heavyweight contender Daniel ‘Dynamite’ Dubois is targeting big fights against Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora to take his career to the next level after he faces Joe Cusumano on August 29th in his U.S debut at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dubois (16-1, 15 KOs) seemed to freeze for a second when asked if he would be interested in facing Whyte, and it’s unclear whether he’s mentally and physically ready for that kind of a step up.
The 23-year-old Dubois is still trying to rebound from his 10th round stoppage loss to Joe Joyce last November. Dubois has had one fight since, beating Bogdan Dinu by a second round knockout last June.
This month, Dubois will be traveling to the United States to take on American Joe Cusumano (19-3, 17 KOs) in a 10 round fight on the undercard of Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley on SHOWTIME pay-per-view.
It’s a good opportunity for Dubois to win over some new fans with his U.S debut, but the only downside of it is he’s not facing a world-level and, more importantly, a recognizable name fighter.
Cusumano, 33, is an obscure guy selected from nowhere to share the ring with Dubois in his showcase fight.
Whyte wants Chisora & Whyte
“I’m going to find out what’s going on down in Cleveland,” said Dubois to Secondsout on his next fight on August 29th. “This is my first time boxing in America, and I’m looking forward to it.
“It’s going to be an amazing, really exciting event. I just want to go out there and perform and show what I can do, and hopefully, it comes off, and we have an amazing trip out there.
“I can’t wait to come over and show what I can do and bring my passion to it,” said Dubois. “Do what I do best, bring my passion and bring my heart and hopefully, take it over and give an explosive performance.
“Of course, they’re all big names out there,” said Dubois when asked if he’d like to fight Dillian Whyte. “I’m just thinking realistically who I want to fight next. I would love to fight Dillian Whyte and have a big, big showdown with him. I’d love that, but we’ll see. We’re taking our time now and be ready for whoever is next.
“Definitely, fighting Chisora would be a great fight,” continued Dubois. “He’s rough and ready, and I love that. It’ll be a great fight if we meet in the ring, and I’d love that one.
“Keep winning; that’s all that matters right now,” Dubois said in what he needs to do for him to get a world title shot. “Just take my time, and when the opportunity comes, be ready for it. Whoever is there, I want to take them on,” said Dubois.
Despite Dubois’ setback against Joyce, he would have an excellent chance of banging Whyte out of there in the first six rounds with his firepower.
The shots that Dubois was hitting Joyce with in the first seven rounds would have done damage to Whyte, and it’s hard to imagine him holding up for more than three or four rounds under that kind of heavy bombardment.
Dubois is still green, and he needs more experience to increase his self-confidence to make him believe he can beat Whyte. In terms of Dubois’ offense, he’s got more than enough to beat Whyte in a quick knockout if that fight happened right.
Whyte doesn’t have the chin that Joyce has, and he would not be able to take the shots that Joe was hitting the ‘Juggernaut’ with last November.
Joe wants a rematch with Joyce
“In this sport, the belts may change hands again; we’ll see,” said Dubois. “We just got to wait and see, and stay hungry, stay confident and stay in the gym and be ready for the opportunity.
“There are a lot of fighters out there, a lot of big names,” said Dubois when asked which opponent can take him to the next level.
“I’ll leave that up to Frank [Warren] and leave them to deal with that side of it. Obviously, there’s the Joe Joyce fight.
“I want to have that rematch cleared up, but we’ll see. It’s going to take time. In time, but not now.
“We still got to build ourselves up, and hopefully, he might win a world title and fight me for it. We might have another meeting, and I would love that.
“I think Fury has got Deontay’s number now, and I think he’ll come and pull it out of the bag again, but you never know. This is boxing, and anything can happen,” said Dubois in giving his thoughts on the October 9th trilogy fight between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder.
It might be better for Dubois to leave Joyce alone because he has too good of a chin, and it would be another grueling fight that would stretch into the deeper rounds.
If Dubois can improve his head movement, he’d have a good chance of beating Joyce, but he hasn’t shown that yet since his loss.