Dubois: I would have to halt the juggernaut

DANIEL DUBOIS SUSPECTS he would require one of his trademark KOs in order to secure victory over potential British title opponent Joe Joyce.

Dubois and the Olympic silver medallist have been mandated by the board to battle for the British heavyweight title, once the 21-year-old has hopefully attended to business against Richard Lartey at the SSE Arena, Wembley on April 27.

The 33-year-old Joyce has recorded eight stoppages from his eight fights in the professional ranks and possesses a style based on a relentless work rate.

“He looks to overpower people, out-punch you, out-work you sort of thing, so he is busy, non-stop,” considered the 10-0 Dubois, who has nine KOs to his name. “He is a challenge for anyone who faces him.”

A challenge that Dubois insists he would have no issues in overcoming.

“No, not at all. I’ll work even harder than I am now to beat these sort of guys. The better the guys I am facing, the better I will perform.”

Despite his perfect stoppage ratio, Joyce isn’t considered to be amongst the division’s most concussive punchers. Dubois, however, contends this view stems more from his accuracy than his punch potency.

“It depends who he is in with. I am sure he has got enough strength in his punches to drop some people, but he doesn’t seem to be the most accurate puncher.

“That is something I am pretty good at and you will see that from how the fight turns out, if it happens.”

So if a fight with Joyce is booked in, assuming Lartey is successfully accounted for, Dubois indicates that he would have to take a shortcut for the fight to fall in his favour.

“Yes, if I was to win the fight, I would definitely have to put him over or stop him.”

Daniel Dubois v Richard Lartey tops the bill at the SSE Arena, Wembley on April 27 on a card that also includes the Commonwealth super middleweight title fight between Lerrone Richards and Tommy Langford, as well as the Southern Area super middleweight title clash between Zak Chelli and Jimmy Smith. WBO European super flyweight champion Sunny Edwards and WBO European super featherweight champion Archie Sharp also feature.

Rangy Super Welterweight talent Hamzah Sheeraz will be back out after his impressive win over Rod Douglas Jnr. Hard hitting middleweight and Peacock gym product Denzel Bentley (9-0) and Belfast amateur middleweight star Caoimhin Agyarko will also return to action. There are Queensberry debuts for unbeaten welterweight Chris Kongo (10-0) and Sheffield middleweight Shakiel Thompson (2-0) – with Thompson being tipped by sparring partner Billy Joe Saunders as a star for the future. Ilford Super Middleweight Umar Sadiq (4-1) also returns as he looks to rebuild after his first career loss. Tunde Ajayi trained lightweight Bilal Ali (1-0) will have his second professional fight after making a successful start to his pro career, with Hoddesdon super lightweight Alfie Price set for his fifth.

Tickets will be priced as £40, £50, £75, £100 and £150 and are now ON SALE to purchase via Eventim, Ticketmaster, the SSE Arena website and AXS.com