By: Hans Themistode
Daniel Dubois buried his face into his hands. The heavyweight contender couldn’t believe what had just happened to him several months ago. The British native was seemingly on his way to taking his career to the next level. All that needed to be done was for him to win his November 28th, 2020 showdown against former Olympic Silver medalist Joe Joyce.
Going in, both oddsmakers and the boxing public believed the 23-year-old would get the job. Yet, after ten punishing rounds, Dubois (15-1, 14 KOs) was forced to take a knee after a persistent heavy jab found the mark over and over again. Referee Ian John-Lewis counted Dubois out as he continued to paw at his severely swollen left eye.
Once their contest was officially over, the criticism came in waves. Shortly after his defeat, it was revealed that Dubois had broken his orbital bone. Still, the condemnation continued. Although Dubois could handle it all, it was the words of fellow British native Dillian Whyte, that seemingly hit a cord.
“Man’s out here quitting in mid-fight, sh*t,” said Whyte immediately following Dubois’s defeat. “One thing with me, no quit, straight warrior. If I’m losing, I’m getting knocked out. Straight warrior, straight warrior.”
Whyte, 33, has proven on several occasions that he would, in fact, rather go out on his shield as opposed to stopping due to injury or any other reason. The current WBC heavyweight interim titleholder bounced back nicely from a fifth-round stoppage loss at the hands of Alexander Povetkin, only to stop him in the fourth in their subsequent rematch.
The road to the top is a long and arduous one for Dubois but he appears determined to put in the work to do so. While he has no doubt that he will face numerous contenders along the way, he simply hopes that he crosses paths with Whyte.
“One day, I’d like to get in the ring with Dillian Whyte,” said Dubois during an interview with Dailymail. “I’d like to show him just how much of a quitter I am. All of it will give me the experience I need as a fighter. I’ll get better fights under my belt.”
In terms of who Dubois envisions himself facing in the short term, he has no idea. One thing he does know for sure, however, is that former opponents who were reluctant to pick up the phone and accept a showdown with him will suddenly become brave after his most recent ring outing.
“I have to be ready to fight whoever they bring at me now. Guys that weren’t taking the fight before, they will have it now. They will try and copy Joe and I’m looking forward to that. Seeing what I have got up against me. They will think the aura is broken and they will think they’ll have me, that I’m vulnerable. They can try to mess with me, they can insult me if they want and talk about what happened. I’m relishing that prospect and seeing these fighters that were hiding before and now they’ll take it.”