THE astonishing upset that Andy Ruiz delivered against Anthony Joshua in New York last weekend has overhauled the entire heavyweight division. It has left rising prospects looking on with curious eyes, increasingly aware of new possibilities opening up in the weight class.
Dubois has sparred with Joshua, back when he was on the GB squad, and on July 13 he will take on Nathan Gorman for the British heavyweight title.
“It’s an important fight. I’m not overlooking anything. I’m preparing 100% as I’ve always done. It’s the same thing for me. Business as usual,” Dubois told Boxing News. “I just give, every fight I have, my all and everything I’ve got. I don’t overanalyse anything really.
“Whatever he does, I’m going to be ready for it and prepared to engage in a fight and come out on top and come away with the victory.”
But with the Ruiz result in mind, Dubois notes, “The possibilities are endless right now. A few more fights and anything can happen. I’ve just got to keep delivering with performances. One step at a time and dream can happen.”
Many are speculating as to how Joshua managed to lose a fight most observers assumed he would win. “In boxing as a whole you should never take anything for granted. Regarding that situation I think Joshua is at a point now, I guess you’re so long at the top you can get dry. I think that may have had a part to play before the fight, even watching him in the ring and everything. But that’s his path. What’s meant to be will be. It’s up to him if he wants to come back from that,” Daniel said. “It’s up to him really. If he wants to bounce back, it’s all on him now. It’s his journey, it’s his path. I’m not really one to watch what other fighters are doing.
“I’m a fighter. So watching that as a fight, anything’s possible. Ruiz, the capabilities he’s got, his fast hands so you should never overlook anybody. Watching it seemed normal to me, as a fighter, I’m sure to the public, they may be thinking we look at the heavyweight champion as someone invincible and everything else. It is what it is.”
