It’s the reinvention of Daniel Dubois that tops the latest BT Sport Fight Night this Saturday night, as the Londoner makes his long-awaited return from his first professional defeat when he takes on Romania’s Bogdan Dinu in the main event.
Bizarrely, the Interim WBA Heavyweight title is at stake here over a scheduled twelve rounds, with Trevor Bryan elevated to WBA ‘Regular’ champion after a win over Bermane Stiverne, while Manuel Charr remains the organisation’s ‘Champion in Recess’.
The universally recognised champion with the body is Anthony Joshua, who holds their ‘Super’ title.
Dubois (15-1, KO14) comes into this one under a new training team, with Shane McGuigan now the man in the Greenwich man’s corner after spending his professional career under Martin Bowers’ tutelage, who remains the 23-year-old’s manager.
Dubois is still learning his craft, and he went to 15-0 with 14 knockouts, with only the wily Kevin Johnson taking him the distance in a landslide 2018 ten round points win.
Daniel picked up Area, English, British and Commonwealth belts, and was being fast tracked to the top echelons of the division. His last contest though saw Dubois come crashing down to earth, as he took on Joe Joyce in a domestic dust-up that included the European title at stake, as well as a lofty world ranking, especially with the WBO.
Dubois started as warm favourite due to his youth and explosive start to professional life, but, after making a promising start, Joyce took over, and his jab steadily damaged the eye of his opponent until Dubois was jabbed on the stricken eye in the tenth round, and he was dropped and decided to not attempt to beat the count, instead, saving himself for another day.
That ‘other day’ will be this weekend, and it’s an opportunity to put his name back on the Heavyweight map.
34-year-old Dinu (20-2, KO16) is the perennial gatekeeper, and has been knocked out each time he has stepped up in class.
The Bucharest resident won 18 straight contests across Romania and Canada, before losing his unbeaten record in Kansas in November 2018, when the now disgraced Jarrell Miller dropped Dinu twice on the way to a fourth round knockout win.
Dinu returned in March 2019, and gave former world title challenger, Kubrat Pulev, all he could handle, and he was level on two cards before being dropped three times and stopped in seven.
Bogdan has since won his last two contests, both in Bulgaria, and his last came in October 2020, a second round stoppage of Frank Bluemie.
Prediction: It will be interesting to see what Daniel Dubois 2.0 will produce here, and it is likely we will see some technical changes under Shane McGuigan.
I think ‘DDD’ will be patient to begin with, but once Dinu feels his power, he should be able to clinch a knockout win within the first four or five frames.
Tommy Fury will take on the unbeaten Scot Jordan Grant as he bids to clock up half a dozen wins in the professional ranks at the Telford International Arena on Saturday, live on BT Sport.
The 23-year-old Hamilton man, known as ‘The Game’, holds a current record of 2-0, having turned professional in November 2019. ‘TNT’ Fury, 22, has scored four speedy knockout victories in his five pro fights to date.
Fury v Grant is part of the supporting cast to the main event of Daniel Dubois (15-1, 4 KOs) colliding with the Romanian Bogdan Dinu (20-2, 16 KOs) with the WBA Interim heavyweight title belt on the line.
Unfortunately, Marcio Soza – Archie Sharp’s scheduled opponent for his WBO Global super featherweight title fight – tested positive for Covid-19 and the fight will be re-booked for a July date.
Massive ticket seller, Nathan Heaney (11-0, KO3) will bring as many of his fans from Stoke-on-Trent as possible, and the Middleweight takes on Bulgaria’s Iliyan Markov (6-14-2, KO3) over a scheduled ten.
Heaney was last out in February, dropping Ryan Oliver in the fifth on the way to a ten round points win.
Markov has only two wins from his last dozen outings, and Heaney can turn the heat up to secure victory well within the first half of the fight.
Also at 160lbs, Caoimhin Agyarko (8-0, KO5) from Belfast will continue to pick up experience as he moves towards title contention with an eight-rounder against the Mexican Ernesto Olvera (11-6-1, KO3).
The English Bantamweight Champion Liam Davies (8-0, KO3) – a native of Telford – will have his first fight since signing with Queensberry and goes up against the Bulgarian Stefan Slavchev (11-38-2, KO4) over six rounds.
Romania’s Daniel Beciuc (10-0, KO5) gets to showcase his talents, and the 28-year-old Super Welterweight will likely need all six rounds to defeat Naeem Ali (2-67-1, KO1), a man who has never previously been halted.
At Featherweight, Adan Mohamed (1-0, KO0) goes for win number two, and he also is likely to need the four round distance to see off Luke Fash (2-59-2, KO0), who has only been stopped five times in nearly 60 defeats.
George Bance makes his professional bow, and he can clearly outscore Des Newton (8-18, KO2) over four.
