Dubois On Talksport

Sounds like an excuse and just makes them look like fools if they knowingly went into the biggest fight of Dubois career without a "game plan".....

 

They sounded like it was firmly blaming Martin Bowers and team. Sounds like the relationship is dead. They IFL interview with them all seemed like Dubois wasnt allowed to say anything by Frank and Martin.

My guess is Dubois wants out but Bowers and Warren have him under contract and are enforcing it.

 

I don’t think it was an excuse per se. I think they were saying that given what he is learning in the gym at the moment under the new tutelage he would be far better prepared for that type of fight was it to happen now rather than then.

The irony is it is probably far more to do with the lessons learned through the deep waters Joyce took him to.

I have no issues with fighters making a degree of an excuse as their ego probably means that they can’t admit the other man was better else they wouldn’t have that fighters mindset.

Joyce was the better man on the night for sure. Let’s judge him on how he recovers from the set back.

 

The problem with the excuse is they didnt mind having no plan in the fights prior. It was all about Dubios power and that was enough so they weren't actually learning anything. The opponents were poor and everything was going to plan as he was winning regardless of the lack of plan.

I think unless he learns how to move his head his gonna struggle with anyone who can actually throw a jab.

 

Bowers does teach defense pretty well, I had saw some his fighters and had sparred with guy who earlier was under him ( I even had did this when lad had another coach and then some years later when he was after Bowers ). O.K, now not actual, lad had retired from fighting years ago.
About contracts I do not know anything.

 

To be honest I read an interview with DD and he just seemed a bit too nice with it all. He didn't seem to have any fire didn't ask for a return fight or anything.

Could be a short lived career this

I actually thought he has been brought along reasonable well.

Johnson
Cojanu
Lartey (who subsequently has looked like cannon fodder in fairness)
Gorman

are OK opponents for the level he has at but his power has always bailed him out. He was stung by Lartey but got him out there but he needs that again...someone to stand up to his punches and look to win. Tricky one 'cause i do think DD is a good puncher.

 

Thought it was wierd the corner chat to dubois against joyce tbh. Came across to me like it was a chat you,d give to a guy that lacked heart.

Hes still a young man in all fairness...but it could be his big achilles heel.

Think in hindsight joyce was too big a jump up from where he,d been. Becoming apparent that joyce is better than he looks. Think frank got suckered a bit but watching joyce sometimes...you do think hes there for the taking especially against a decent puncher.

Could turn out a good thing for dubois career tho. The problem now tho is getting fights that actually learn him something. Progressive fights. Any half decent fighter comes with a price tag....sometimes easier to bring in a punch bag....but what really does it learn him.

 

Tbf to bowers, a lot of trainers don't go in with.a game plan, they know their own fighters style, strengths and weaknesses.
They then give instruction as the fight unfolds.
For example, Martin knew that DDD was going on the front foot stepping in with the jab, looking to send the right hand in once he had Joe in a the right position cos that's all Daniel really does. He hasn't got any kind of levels to his skills hes a banger and looks for the k.o.
Now comes the part where I have to agree with ddd dad. Daniel was struggling with Joe's jab, he tried going on the back foot using lateral moment but he then struggled to get any of his own work off cos he only really is any good coming fwd.
He had some real trouble with timing that jab and the most obvious thing which I would of expected Bowers and Daniel to try was never attempted, that was to simply parry Joe's jab. Just catch the damn thing as it comes in.
I saw Daniel try slip the jab but Joe's jab is one of those that' comes at an awkward angle and what he should of tried there was to slip and step to the outside whilst dropping his lead leg closer to Joe as Joe was very effective at adding defence into his attacks.
With the benefit of hindsight it's easy to see that Joe just has a bigger skill set than Daniel and he used that to his advantage, rather than having a punch up with Daniel he uses his brain and deeper toolbox.
Like I said, a lot of trainers prefer to see how the fight unfolds but Daniel's dad is right, Martin couldn't give useful instruction to Daniel on how to deal with Joe's style.

 

I think it showed the experience both had on the night.

Joyce had all that amateur experience to draw on and he used that in his gameplan, he was able to bring his jab into play more than Dubois and Dubois didn't have the experience with how to deal with that, regardless he was still competitive in there and the fight was close going a lot of the time.

Joyce had a bit more variety but that's to be expected given Dubois lack of boxing background.

Dubois is only young and as long as there are no desire / heart issues he's surely going to improve. He's moved early on in his career, how often do we say a fighter should leave a trainer when there clearly stagnating or not improving on weaknesses, then they don't don't it until its too late.

 

It is interesting how no noise has been made about a rematch. Dubois would do well to stay away from that smoke for the time being. I massively underrated Joyce but he showed that he can really box when he wants to. Perhaps he'd just gone reckless in the fights prior because he was trying to make a statement with stoppages etc. For me, Joyce is a massive threat to anyone in the heavyweight division and credit to Dubois for backing himself in the first place. The defeat will look better in time as I feel Joyce will take a few more big scalps before he retires.

 

Joyce reminds me a bit of Froch to be honest. Can look awful at times but has the right mix of attributes to make it work.
Both had/have good stamina, chin and power but they don't always look the most athletic or aesthetically pleasing but they can get the job done.

 

Martin Bowers was appalling in the corner against Joyce. He couldn't come up with anything constructive at all. He couldn't recognise his man was badly injured and pull him out. The lad had to pull himself out and then listen to all that keyboard warrior rubbish about quitting.
Understandably, the trust between Fighter and Trainer is terminally fractured. I wouldn't let Bowers walk my dog.