Both are overrated in my opinion. It's why I picked Hunter to beat Bakole and Joyce to beat Dubois. But between the two I have to favour Bakole. While Dubois has faced better opposition in Usyk and Joyce, he lost to them both and was stopped both times. Bakole's wins over Kuzmin, Yoka and Takam suggest he's the better fighter. Dubois resume sucks, he really has only one note worthy win over an even more overweight than normal Miller who quite frankly in his previous fight looked horrendous, which is I guess why they risked putting him in with Miller now because he had looked so bad vs Lucas Browne. I'm not sure if that Miller who was overrated even in his prime was any better than a shot Takam or hype job Yoka. So between the two Dubois is the more overhyped right now. Yes the Miller fight was entertaining but Miller was basically a journeymen at that point given he was no longer on PED's and so overweight. Dubois struggled vs Lerena and struggled vs Miller, both journeymen level fighters. Dubois so far has only proven he can beat journeymen albeit good ones.
I have ebbed and flowed on this one but lean towards Dubois given the shape Bakole came in in his last fight.
Yeah if he comes in at 300lbs again, Dubois just needs to hang in there again and wait for Bakole to gas out like he did vs Miller. Bakole has bad enough stamina even when he's in shape, coming in at that weight would probably change my pick to Dubois.
Lerena put in a dominant display vs Wach and beat that lad who just beat Yoka. I'd make Lerana a favorite vs Takam tbh.
Dominant display vs a 42 year old Wach isn't that impressive in my opinion, Wach is now basically a journeymen and even in his prime Wach wasn't that good, not even gatekeeper level. Merhy did beat Yoka but so did Takam. At best I'd have Lerena on par with an old Takam in terms of quality now but Bakole dominated Takam while Dubois went life and death with Lerena being dropped 3 times.
I would back Bakole to walk down Dubois and make him quit, unless the fight with Miller marked a change in Dubois's mentality.
I agree Dubois is way overrated. But Bakole is not all that either. If Bakole shows up at his very best he is a nasty nasty fighter. But Bakole has shown weakness as well. Dubois has given up too easy, but I think think Bakole folded quite easy against Hunter as well. Neither of them is going to rule the division in the future. But I don’t mind seeing the fight.
I'd favour Bakole. Wach was definitely top 10 in his prime. Lerena I'd rank above Takam at this stage.
I don't think Wach did anything to prove he was top 10 in his prime. Beating Kevin McBride, Tye Fields and losing every round vs Wlad only proves he was a durable fringe contender at best, he wasn't even gatekeeper level. Lerena might rank above Takam now simply because Takam is so far past his best. With Merhy also beating Yoka that Yoka win looks less impressive than before as does his performance against Makhmudov since Makhmudov was stopped by Kabayel. But that's not necessarily a flattering comparison as Takam is such a spent force now that even a prime Lerena might not be much better than him now.
Not saying he's better than a prime Takam. He's better than the one who fought Bakole I made that quite clear.
Was just thinking about making a poll, but then I remembered this thread. Will be interesting to see if anyone's view has changed after Bakole vs Anderson and Dubois vs Hrgovic. My view remains unchanged. Bakole walks straight through Dubois and knocks him out early.
I dunno he signed to fight Hrgovic who Bakole twice ducked. Given their track records it's Bakole who's more likely to duck the other.