His skills level might not be elite, but c'mon, gatekeeper is too mean for a former title contender. I prefer him to Anderson cos I never seen him duck any fight. That's who the fans should hype and not duckers trying to keep their "0"
I'll give you that he doesn't duck a fight, but neither did Chisora a well known gatekeeper, who is also a former title contender. Gate keepers can get title shots, doesn't mean they were anything more than a gate keeper. Fact is Dubois has yet to beat anyone good. His best win is an overweight Jarrell Miller, prime Chisora and Takam beat that Miller. So I stand with my original statement, he's yet to prove he's even that good yet with his resume. Don't believe the hype, believe in what a fighter shows us in the ring.
Really looking forward to Wilder-Zhang. Zhang has put boxing on the map in China and Wilder is a former world champion who is never in a dull fight and despite all the criticism has proven his minerals as a legit fighter.
Wilder not thanking al paymen Whys he fighting for the snake in a suit Whys he travelling spent years telling us its america or nothing baby Just **** off you protected corrupt yank
In some ways, I think this might be looking at it backwards. Dubois has had a bunch of pretty decent fights which give us hints where he lies - albeit remembering he's young and still improving. Hrgovic is much less established where he stands - he might not really be much beyond gatekeeper level himself, if at all... His best win being a very close win on points over a fighter who is 2-2-1 against top 200 rated fighters and has a gas tank that makes Anthony Joshua look like Mo Farah. I don't necessarily think this is necessarily the mismatch some would like it to be.
I know that Zhang/Wilder and Hrgovic/Dubois is rightly getting most of the focus, but I'm really interested in seeing how Ball / Ford plays out - Ford has MASSIVE size advantage which is going to make it a real tall order for Ball, but I have a sneaking suspicion he might upset the apple cart there.
Aging, but exposed more than shot - he never beat anyone who wasn't a can or horrifically overrated. Wilder's entire hype was always ridiculous - if he hadn't held a belt hostage for so long, he'd have been a sideshow at best. Deontay looked awful last time out because he is - he got put on the backfoot where he lacks the skills to fight, and he lacks the ring IQ to change anything to get himself in control of things. Parker exposed him - yes he's getting old, but he was always limited and was always going to struggle when he fought legit contenders.
Yeah the Miller fight proved little. Dubois tends to wilt/burn out against pressure fighters, and he was just lucky to be in there with a 350lb whale who badly gassed out. I actually thought it was a competitive tough fight for 4 rounds before Miller became a giant blubbery punch bag. With that said, of all the contenders Dubois has taken on some of the toughest fights, so kudos to him. Arguably a better resumé than Fury post-comeback! Hrgovic, Usyk, Joyce, Miller > Usyk, Wilder, Chisora, Whyte, Ngannou
Both have too much power and at the same time they are easy to hit. That's a coin flip. What's sure is that we will not watch 12 rounds in that fight. Same night as the UCL final match, bad timing.
I don't necessarily think it's a mismatch either, Dubois is dangerous but also flawed. Hrgovic may not be half as good as some hype him to be that's true as he really only has one good win on his record and even that was close, but it's still way better than any win Dubois has. I think it will be entertaining while it lasts, as both are most effective on the front foot, but I think Hrgovic is more durable and it a fire fight, his durability and straighter right hand will be the difference and allow him to back Dubois up and then dictate the fight and break Dubois down.
We think it probably is... But we can't be sure given how little Zhang's actually done - being razor close doesn't help make the case for Hrgovic being much better, either. I suspect you're right overall, but I have very little confidence in predicting this one on the basis of just how little Hrgovic has done and how long it's been since he was in a competitive fight.
Dubois is garbage just like Chisora and Whyte before him. Overrated hype jobs because they fight out of The Isle of Glass Jaw. Nothing more.
He was winning the joyce fight before he was badly hurt, and the usyk fight was controversial. He's still young and can improve and rule the division after usyk, Fury and Joshua BTW, Fighters were right to cherry pick or duck anyone who's a bad style match up, cos if they eventually lose once, they become a bum, twice they become a gatekeeper.