Daniel Dubois came through an unexpectedly exciting bout with South Africa’s Kevin Lerena on the Tyson Fury undercard last weekend.
The Londoner was expected to be far too much for Lerena who had only boxed at heavyweight three times previously after moving up from cruiserweight.
But it was Dubois who found himself on the canvas three times in the first round. Lerena landed a hard left early on, putting Dubois down heavily.
Britain’s Daniel Dubois celebrates his victory over Lerena
“He got caught early and the first shot was a good one. Normally you get caught with a few jabs and you kind of settle your way into the power and the fight,” Dubois’ trainer Shane McGuigan told Sky Sports.
“He got caught on the top of the head and his legs went. He basically hyper-extended his knee.”
Under pressure, Dubois went down twice more in the first round without taking another clear punch.
“The next two knockdowns weren’t knockdowns. He took a knee because he knew something wasn’t right. So he did the right thing. It ended up being a 10-6 round, so we were three rounds down after the first round with a guy with a bad knee and I had a decision to make,” McGuigan explained.
“[He was] not disorientated at all because he knew exactly what shot it was. If you look at the footage, he says, ‘I don’t know what happened.’ [He meant] I don’t know what happened to my knee.
A fight with Daniel Dubois could make sense for Anthony Joshua
“The next round I said just get on your jab. Just move around. Just get your foot underneath you and he did that. Then in round three he walked him onto a peach of a right hand and stopped him.
“He regrouped and did really well and showed a lot of mettle. Because people had questioned his mental strength.”
It meant Dubois successfully defended the WBA ‘regular’ title, a secondary belt to the WBA championship that unified titlist Oleksandr Usyk holds.
Dubois, therefore, is still a mandatory challenger for Usyk but he’ll be out of action for a while as he recovers from the injury.
“As soon as he got hit, as he went to step, he put his weight on his heel and he hyperextended his knee,” McGuigan said.
“We’ll have to gauge it and figure out whether it needs a minor operation or whether we just can do good rehab. Either way, I don’t see him boxing until probably May time, April, May.”
Daniel Dubois uses his power to get out of trouble against Lerena
While the ‘regular’ title is not regarded as a major belt, it might still be a tempting prize for big names in the division like Anthony Joshua or Dillian Whyte.
Furthermore, Shane McGuigan thinks if they now perceive vulnerabilities in Dubois, they might be more inclined to take a fight with him.
“Maybe. If we can have that [Anthony Joshua] fight, why not? Definitely. It comes down to getting people at the right time. AJ might think he’s getting Daniel at the right time when he hasn’t got the experience and potentially he might think [Dubois’] confidence might be lacking,” McGuigan said.
“But we also would have to look at that fight and think, we’re getting him at the right time. But it’s down to Martin Bowers [Dubois’ manager] and Frank [Warren, his promoter], that are going to be matching his next move. Obviously, we sit down and we discuss it.
“No one’s ever been queuing up to fight Daniel. Especially the big names because they think, ‘I’m going to walk into heavy shots there and he’s got a puncher’s chance and what’s there really to gain from it?’
“He’s got the WBA ‘regular’ title. He’s also showed in their eyes a bit of weakness in that last fight.
“Hopefully they’ll step forward,” the trainer added.
“I think Dillian Whyte’s perfect. He’s just come off a win. Apparently he doesn’t want the AJ fight at the moment. I don’t know if AJ’s going to be ready in that timeframe. That would be great for us.”
