I'll admit, I've always been a skeptic of this kid, mostly the guys he's been facing apart from Gorman. He shut me up on that one though, showed a lot in that fight actually. Yeah you can knock him for quitting due to his injuries, I personally don't hold it against him, but this kid still took a very difficult fight early into his career and showed that he can hang with the top level to a degree already. Now is time for the rebuild and I can only see him improving if they match him up appropriately heading on from here. He's shown a lot of what he can do against much lesser guys before, now is the time for some guys on equal footing. We need to encourage more of these kinds of fights, it was great to see it actually be settled who the best European level guy is at the moment from the UK. I like having these big questions answered in boxing. Keeps fans coming back for more too. The likes of Hrgovic, Ajagba, Kabayel and such should be mixing it up like these two as well tbh. Yoka is clever enough to have already faced two quality contenders in Duhaupas and Hammer, that Milas fight isn't a bad idea either, the winner fighting Joyce would be great. Hrgovic should call on the likes of Zhang or Wallin himself, a solid European level test at the very least, maybe even one that'd do him good for the world level. Dubois may not have had the rub of the green on Saturday but he's earned my respect for going out there against Joyce (Joyce obviously gets respect too, but I always knew he's been game). Here's to hopefully a few more of these top 10 establishing fights to come soon at HW with the titles tied up for a while.
Dubois was actually doing very well for large parts of that fight. Was definitely unloading the better work. When it comes to power punches. Think that fight is credit to Joyce's chin, took some big hits in there. Experience played it's part too, Joyce had a game plan and stuck to it. Held behind his jab rather than trying to offload his own combinations. Dubois eye did look shut, Joyce was looking for it every time. Maybe it was a little early in his career for this one. Dubois has got talent, so will bounce back. Was hoping for a bit more of a slugfest tho
Dubois seems to have a good attitude, so I’m interested to see how he’ll improve, but this is exactly why young fighters need to be matched appropriately so they can develop properly.
100% been a bit over hyped, at an early stage of his career. Was landing some decent work tho. Hopefully will learn from this one Joyce as I've always said is a little underated. Slow but made of granite hits hard and had the experience of fighting the likes of usyk in the amatures.
He was convinced it was an easy fight against a slow middle-aged fighter considered B-class, so it wasn't exactly an act of bravery.
Yeah experience definitely showed between the two of them. It was simply too early in Dubois' career to step up to this level of opponent. People see Dubois' size and power and forget he's only 23 with a very limited amateur background compared to Joyce, Hrgovic, Yoka and the other prospects. He should of stayed amateur for longer instead of learning as a pro or give him at least another year maybe even two before they should of been looking to throw him in with an undefeated 2m tall Olympic medalist.
To be honest the issue on Saturday was not rub of the green. The issue was Dubois had not had the necessary fights to prepare him for this level JJ is at. Please people should stop referring to Nathan Gorman who neither has the skill or athletic ability of the top fighters. The guys like Ajagba, Hrygovic etc have the amateur pedigree and foundation. Dubois almost seemed shocked someone was hitting back on Saturday.
The way the fight ended a lot of boxers are wondering if he has the right attitude for the game. Sounds cruel but that’s boxing. It’s not for normal people.
I thought Gorman was a good start for finding out his levels at this stage of his career. We knew he was British level at that point. Should've followed up that fight by matching up with that Pfeifer guy like planned or maybe another solid European guy. Hell Tom Schwarz could've been a good one too. This was definitely a lesson in matchmaking leading up to a big fight, you need the right acid tests to make sure you're ready for the world level.
My wish for Dubois is for him to get a good rest, let his injuries heal and do some soul searching to ask himself if the fight game is what he really wants to do. If he does want to continue he may consider getting an old fashioned teacher to bring him along. Some like Terrible Tim Witherspoon or the old trainers in the mid West USA would do wonders for him. At this stage he is like Nigel Benn after the loss to Michael Watson.
Yes The whole hype machine around Dubois was out of control. All the crap about him stopping AJ in sparring years ago. Had he won he would have been rushed into a title fights against the likes of Usyk, AJ, Fury or Wilder which would have been an execution.
Back to support bouts vs D and C class operators for Dubois, any higher and he's at risk of more L's.
Considering everyone has bashed up Joshua in sparring that shouldn't have been a huge selling point hahaha.
