DANIEL DUBOIS will be looking to not only re-establish himself as a heavyweight force on Saturday night, but also quieten the doubters who are questioning his mettle.
The Brit faces American loudmouth Jarrell Miller in an undercard bout on the “Day of Reckoning” event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and has had to contend with a verbal bashing from Miller, who himself is rebuilding a career after being banned from competing for having tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
A loss to Miller would be the third in the career of Dubois, who has already suffered defeats to Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk. The manner of those defeats led to accusations of Dubois being a quitter, which means it is now up to Dubois, 26, to prove his critics wrong against Miller on Saturday.
“This fight a lot of people are writing him off saying if he gets put under pressure he’ll fold. We will see,” Dubois’ promoter, Frank Warren, said to Boxing News. “That’s a lot of pressure so it’s all on him to prove everybody and his doubters wrong. He’s got every attribute you need as a heavyweight boxer. He’s got to show he’s got desire and heart. That’s what he’s got to show. I think he’s got it; I know he’s got it. I’ve seen him apply it in other fights. This one is going to be a big acid test for him there’s no doubt about that.
“The Joe Joyce fight, we can go over that a million times. Joe boxed extremely well and took advantage of the injury he had; which was an horrific injury. I spoke to the doctor myself, who said, ‘He would have a detached retina and probably have been the end of his career in boxing. He did the right thing.’ He had three or four fractures in his orbital socket so you can imagine the pain from that being caught on there. So, what has he got to do, lose an eye to prove to everybody he’s got balls?
“He got caught with good shots in that first round (against Kevin Lerena). He got up and got through that. And in that fight, he tore all the ligaments in his knee which is the reason he was out for a long time, and he showed a lot of balls and came back from that.”
However, the Queensberry promoter did want Dubois to pass a gut check against Usyk.
“I would have liked to have seen him grit his teeth more in that fight towards the end but I genuinely feel that at the end of it he thought he was fighting a losing battle with the referee. That’s gone. It’s all out the window. People have got their views and he’s got to change the views of the people who think he’s a quitter because I don’t think he is.”
