After becoming a two-time world champion, Daniel Dubois is being linked to a clash with 21-year-old phenomenon Moses Itauma, and Carl Froch has shared his thoughts on the potential fight.
Dubois became the IBF world champion almost two years ago, making one defence in a savage beatdown of Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium, before ‘DDD’ then lost the title to Oleksandr Usyk.
Last weekend, Dubois successfully regained his world title status after defeating Fabio Wardley, but fight fans are already discussing what could come next for the 28-year-old, after he laid out his intentions of a ‘long reign’ during the aftermath of his win.
One of those options looks to be fellow Queensberry fighter Moses Itauma, and super-middleweight legend Froch told his YouTube channel that a fight between those two could be telling for the youngster.
“He [Dubois] is big, strong, nice solid jab, a tidy fighter. He can take a punch when he has to, but he does choose to go down every now and then, there is almost a question mark around his desire and his heart and whether or not he has got that grit.
“So, it is difficult say whether he can reign, but he is a two-time world champ and now he is WBO world champ, so he has got Moses Itauma knocking on the door. Moses Itauma is mandatory for the WBO, so maybe we will find something out there.
“We are going to find something out about Itauma because, if this fight gets made, it will be the first time that he has been in with someone who can actually punch really hard and is very tidy.”
Pre-fight, Froch had said confidently he believes Itauma beats both Dubois and Wardley, however the nature of the champion’s performance has clearly forced a re-evaluation.
Itauma has not yet been officially named as the WBO’s mandatory challenger, but president Gustavo Olivieri has made the suggestion to the rankings committee and the instalment is currently pending approval.
Whether or not that leads to the Dubois fight remains to be seen, as Itauma may instead pursue another of the major titles with a view to unifying against Dubois further down the line. He returns on August 8 with an opponent yet to be named.
