It’s been a busy few days in the world of boxing.
Not long after unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk surrendered his International Boxing Federation (IBF) strap (as expected), promoters announced the upcoming IBF heavyweight title fight between British bruisers Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois, set for Sat., Sept. 21, 2024 at Wembley Arena in London, England.
“I think it’s a tough fight,” promoter Eddie Hearn told Fight Hub TV. “I think he’s quite active, Dubois. I think he won’t be quite as active [against Joshua], you saw him take a lot of punishment against (Filip) Hrgovic. AJ’s a different type of puncher to Hrgovic. You cannot walk onto right hands, you’ll go straight to sleep. So I think he’ll be smarter but he’ll be active and he’ll want to try and land the shots on Anthony. He believes he’s got the power to hurt everybody and he does, so he’s got to look to land those shots. And in doing so he’s going to be entering the realm of fire and that’s why it’ll be a tremendous fight.”
Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) is coming off a thunderous knockout victory over former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou earlier this year in Riyadh, his fourth straight win. As for Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs), he’s looking to win his third straight after stopping Filip Hrgovic just a few weeks back, also in Riyadh.
It’s worth noting that Joshua and Dubois have both been defeated by Usyk.