One way to measure the heavyweight division’s resurgence is to look at what’s next. Generation Next. There is one, a good sign that a division dormant just a few years ago suddenly has a promising future.
Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce are the new faces of the heavyweight class that hopes to succeed Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Dubois and Joyce are generating widespread attention in an April 11 fight at London’s O2 Arena on BT Sports Box Office pay-per-view. They’re prospects. They’ll have to fight their way through the division’s second tier of challengers – Oleksandr Usyk, Joseph Parker, Dillian Whyte, Derek Chisora and Kubrat Pulev.
For now, however, they’re like the 18-year-old pitcher with a 98-mph fastball at the start of spring training or the five-star high school quarterback picking a college on signing day. Everything is possible.
“People always talk about wanting the best to fight the best,” promoter Frank Warren said Friday at a London news conference announcing the Dubois-Joyce fight. “Well, on Feb. 22 we have the No. 1 and No. 2 heavyweights in the world (Wilder and Fury) settling a score in Las Vegas.
“Then in April, we have the two best up-and-coming heavyweights in the world putting it on the line at the O2 Arena. It is a fight that needed to be made to see which man is ready to challenge the elite at the top end of the division and which one will reset and go again.’’
The 22-year-old Dubois (14-0 13 KOs) has crazy power, the fundamental dynamic that strikes fear in opponents and fascinates fans.
“I think I am better than Joe in every department,’’ the 6-foot-5 Dubois said. “I have a better jab. I have better movement. I have more power. The only thing Joe has over me is experience, but he’s never boxed anyone as young and as hungry as me. This will be the most devastating performance of my career.”
At 34, Joyce is old to be a prospect. But he’s late to the pro game, going 10-0 with nine knockouts since winning an Olympic silver medal in a controversial loss to Tony Yoka at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. His record includes a decision over challenger Bryant Jennings and a stoppage of Bermane Stiverne, a former belt holder.
“Experience is something you can’t buy, and I’ve got tons of it,’’ the 6-foot-6 Joyce said. “I believe it’ll play a huge factor in this fight.”