Daniel Dubois became a two-time heavyweight world champion last month. Now, one of his former rivals has angled for a title shot, dangling the carrot of avenging a loss.
Dubois halted Fabio Wardley in a heavyweight thriller at the beginning of May, capturing one of the major titles for a second time in his career.
The big-punching Brit now hopes to hold onto the belt for longer than the 12 months which he was IBF champion. His reign is set to officially begin with a return fight against Wardley, who activated his contractual rematch clause shortly after the defeat.
If Dubois can do the double over Wardley, another Brit is also eyeing up a challenge for his title, as Joe Joyce, who handed Dubois his first loss back in 2020, told Sky Sports that he plans to get back on track for the WBO belt – which he was in line to fight for a few years ago.
“It [Dubois rematch] is always an attractive option,”
“Before I took [on Zhilei] Zhang, which was obviously a bad decision, I was WBO Interim [champion] off the back of beating Dubois and [Joseph] Parker. So it’s just like a bit of a mistake that I’m going to rectify now.”
First, Joyce looks to improve upon a dismal run of form, which has seen him lose four of his last five contests, as he travels to Russia to take on the undefeated Artem Suslenkov, on the Murat Gassiev vs. Tony Yoka undercard on Saturday, July 11.
