Daniel Dubois vs Joe Joyce: Fight preview and prediction ahead of clash between top two British heavyweight prospects

GBN previews the heavyweight clash between undefeated British fighters Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce on Saturday night

The rescheduled heavyweight clash between Brits Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce is finally scheduled to take place this Saturday night, with enormous levels of anticipation and excitement to see who can prevail between two of the country's top prospects in the blue ribbon division.

A packed card will take place on Saturday night, November 28, at Westminster's Church House with the action live on BT Sport as part of the standard subscription in the UK.

 

GBN Editor Ben Davies provides a full preview of the card ahead of the monumental British heavyweight collision:

Main Event:

Daniel Dubois vs Joe Joyce - vacant EBU European, Commonwealth, BBBofC British Heavy Title

The heavyweight showdown between Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce is finally upon us this weekend with the rescheduled bout ready to go down this weekend after months of fiery build up between the two camps with the rivals ready to end each other's unbeaten run and prevent them from mixing it at world level in the future.

Deemed as the two top prospect's in Britain's boxing roster to be challenging to reach the heavy heights of the sport's blue ribbon division, the two fighters have been set for the same collision course by shared stable promoter Frank Warren for Queensberry Promotions, and have long spoken of their desire to begin their reign to enter elite company with the world title fighters Anthony Joshua and stablemate Tyson Fury.

Joyce is being seen as underdog by many, but will sure to be an extremely tough examination for the 23-year-old prospect Dubois who many believe is on a path to the very top, but will need to dispatch of an extremely dangerous fighter in the 'Juggernaut' who has a vast range of experience and amateur pedigree in the sport.

Fighting at a professional record of (11-0), the 35-year-old Joyce has had an extremely decorated career in the sport throughout starting out with a superb amateur pedigree winning the gold medal in the 2014 Commonwealth games and 2015 European games before achieving silver in the 2016 Rio Olympics losing to current heavyweight Tony Yoka in the final by a narrow split decision.

He turned professional at the late age of 31, racking up a raft of professional wins and landed his first 2 titles as a professional becoming British champion with a victory over Lenroy Thomas, followed by WBA continental champion with an explosive first round stoppage of Joe Hanks. More recently, Joyce has become commonwealth champion and has fought recently in his last fight against Michael Wallisch in a tune-up contest who he comfortably dispatched in the third round.

The 6'6 heavyweight started slowly looking slightly uncomfortable in the opening round as ring-rust became a factor before gaining his rhythm and throwing a barrage of stiff shots and using top shot selection to down the German twice in the second followed by another knockdown in the third resulting in the stoppage. Joyce will know he needs to start much quicker and absorb a potentially early barrage from Dubois in orer to survive and try to take the fight to his British rival, but will take a great deal of positive from his ability to throw stiff combinations to try and potentially search for a shock stoppage of his own.

From the opposite corner, Dubois has had a meteoric rise in recent years and has been dubbed as one of the star's of the top division for a long while. Despite not having the amateur pedigree and olympic success of his opponent, 'Dynamite' has had a superb start to his professional career having gone past five rounds just once, boasting an impressive stoppage ratio of 93%.

Despite his rise at such a young age, the Greenwich fighter waswas a five-time national junior titlist and British amateur champion, before making his step up to professional boxing back in 2017 stopping his opponent in 35 seconds in his first fight against Marcus Kelly showing his speed and impressive power to announce himself onto the British heavyweight scene. Since then, Dubois has racked up some impressive victories on his professional tape, beating Tom Little to become British champion, followed by huge statement victories over undefeated stablemate Nathan Gorman and Richard Lartey to continue his movement up the heavyweight ladder.

Now ranked #2 heavyweight with the WBO, Dubois also had a tune-up fight earlier in the year dispatching of late opponent Ricardo Snijders in the third round showing his perilous power once again putting down the Dutchman three times in the opening round and then with a thumping left that landed flush to prompt the early stoppage from the referee. 

The young talent will be keen to use his clearly prominent power which is led by his extremely powerful weapon as the stiff jab to keep any Joyce combination storms at bay throughout, but also a platform to launch an assault of his own to keep his top level shot selection at the same standard we have seen throughout his career against fighters such as Nathan Gormley.

The fight will be one of the most evenly matched contests in recent times, with both heavyweights needing a victory to heighten the stakes and back up their fiery talk. The contest poses a true match-up between youth and experience on the night with Dubois keen to display his power and will certainly be looking for an early stoppage, with Joyce often focussing on his ability to outbox his opponents during his heavyweight career. The Juggernaut is also known to start on the slower side but should the fight go into the later rounds, will be hoping that he can last the distance or even force a stoppage of his own.

 

Styles:

Dubois: Dynamite is a heavy puncher and has shown his natural power throughout the early stages of his professional career. The young Briton has a tremndous stiff jab and a top shot selection that has allowed him to create his early legacy as a knockout artist boasting his impressive stoppage ratio. He has yet to go deep into the late stages of a contest, so it remains to be seen whether he can excute a tactical masterplan and outbox an opponent, but now may be one of the occasions where he needs to set himself against a much more experienced opponent.

Joyce: The Juggernaut has not got the fastest style on the heavyweight scene, but posesses good shot selection and has a great ability to throw several multiple shot combinations to keep his opponents on the back foot and has a raft of experience from his amateur careers to hold his own on big stages.

 

Prediction:

The fight is extremely difficult to predict on the most part with two undefeated fighters yet to be truly tested against another top level opponent finally coming together, with the added fire of a top British heavyweight rivarly after an intense build up from the Queensberry stable.

Dubois possesses the true power which is undeniable from both camps but should the fight go into deep waters, we could see a number of possible outcomes due to the young man's lack of twelve round experience.

However 'DDD' is fresher with youth and raw power on his side but will need to combat experience and ring knowledge due to Joyce's much more advanced amateur pedigree and extended time in the sport and working with some of the best in their craft.

Therefore I see Daniel Dubois winning the fight via an early stoppage in Round 3-5 due to Joyce's tendency to start slowly, but should the fight go into the final stanza, it could be a chess match between two of Britain's top heavyweights attempting to break through onto the world level stage. 

 

Undercard

Jack Caterall vs Abderrazak Houya

Undefeated British super lightweight Jack Caterall returns to the ring in the co-main event from Church House, Westminster on Saturday night looking to defeat French-Tunisian fighter Abderrazak Houya to maintain his collision course with the winner of a potential bout between Josh Taylor vs Jose Ramirez for the undisputed super lightweight crown.

The 27-year-old has not fought since the back end of 2019 where he defeated Timo Schwarzkopf by unanimous decision in Dubai to further state his claim at becoming the super lightweight top dog and getting one step closer to a potential showdown with Josh Taylor.

However Caterall has since publicly agreed to take a step back from the world title scene in order to allow Josh Taylor to fight Jose Ramirez and has in turn been promised a shot at the winner after the division is entirely unified, in what could potentially be an all British showdown against the Scot.

A talented southpaw, Caterall has claimed some noticable domestic scalps throughout his extremely successful career including inflicting the first career defeat on Ohara Davies, Joe Hughes and Tyrone Mckenna. He will look to keep sharp and potentially gain a statement stoppage in this fight for ring sharpness, and continue to push his record ahead of a busy 2021 for 'El Gato'.

His opponent faces a real step up facing Caterall with a respectable record and has held the ABU light welterweight title since 2018, in addition to representing his country at the 2012 Olympic Games at junior welterweight.

Prediction: Jack Caterall continues to be in excellent form and may take a few rounds to wipe away any early ring rust but I expect Caterall to get the stoppage in his tune-up fight between rounds 5-8.

 

Hamzah Sheeraz vs Guido Nicolas Pitto- WBO European super welterweight title

Hamzah Sheeraz takes on Guido Nicolas Pitto defending his WBO European super welterweight title in his twelfth fight as a professional fighter looking to make another statement at super welterweight in order to put himself into the mix for becoming a contender for world glory.

The British fighter fought Paul Kean last time out in July of this year after not fighting previously for 8 months where he put on a convincing display to stop Kean in the final round of a six round contest after going through the motions and eliminating any ring rust winning ever round with a scorecard of 10/9 in every round by the final stanza.

Sheeraz will be no stranger to shadowing Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce on a fight card where he took on Scott James at the O2 Arena in which Joe Joyce dispatched of Nathan Jennings and Daniel Dubois defeated Nathan Gorman.

His opponent has won several regional and national championships, and drew once with Magomed Madiev when challenging for the IBF international middleweight title before making a step up in weight, and has won 26 times in his professiona career to date.

Prediction: Hamzah Sheeraz stoppage Round 2

 

Early undercard:

Featherweight Louie Lynn takes on Paul Holt looking to preserve his unbeaten record of 7-0.

Jack Massey looks to bounce back from his defeat to Richard Riakporhe back in 2019 when he faces Mohammad Ali Bayat Farid at cruiserweight who is looking to continue his twelve fight win streak.

Top heavyweight prospect David Adeleye takes on Danny Whitaker looking to win for the third time in 2020 after previously defeating Phil Williams and Matt Gordon.

Joshua Frankham makes his second professional appearance against journeyman MJ Hall at super welterweight.

Mitchell Barton makes his professional debut under the Queensberry stable when he takes on Matt Gordon who is former opponent of stablemate David Adeleye.

 

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