Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London sees another cracking and packed Frank Warren promotion card.
BT Sport televise in the UK, and ESPN+ have the rights in the USA, with the top of the bill being a clash of two unbeaten young prospects. Daniel Dubois (11-0, KO10) and Nathan Gorman (16-0, KO11) clash in what is a mouth watering contest, now for the vacant British Heavyweight Title. With Dubois only 21 and Gorman 23, there is plenty of places for the loser in this one to go.
Dubois only turned professional in April 2017, and has already blasted out ten of his eleven limited opponents thus far. The only man to take “DDD” the distance is wily old veteran former World Title challenger, Kevin “Kingpin” Johnson, who went ten dull rounds with Dubois in October last year.
The same Johnson took Gorman the full ten rounds, also in Leicester, back in March. Other common opponents to the pair include David Howe, who both stopped inside a round, and former WBO Title challenger, Razvan Cojanu, who took Gorman twelve uneventful rounds in December 2018, before Dubois blasted the Romanian out inside two rounds just over three months later.
Dubois was last seen in action in April, and showed that he can be tagged. The wild Richard Lartey from Ghana did manage to connect clean with Dubois, before Daniel dealt with the situation, and scored a fourth round stoppage.
Nantwich based Gorman has also mainly feasted on a diet of journeymen, and both men will see the other as the toughest opponent they have faced in their careers to date.
Prediction: The two are hard to separate, and this could mean a tentative fight as both will be reluctant to lose their unbeaten records. I think the fight could be a cagey affair, with Dubois looking for the knockout, and Gorman trying to box at range and pick Dubois off.
I can’t see Dubois scoring the knockout, as Gorman is a tricky operator, and hard to pin down, and may also have his successes landing clean on Dubois’ chin. I think it could be a close affair, and lean, ever so slightly, to a Dubois win, possibly even via split decision.
Another Heavyweight clash on the card sees a good test for a man on a fast track in Putney’s Joe Joyce (9-0, KO9).
He faces off with Bryant Jennings (24-3, KO14) a former World Title challenger with his three career defeats coming only in the highest class.
2016 Olympic Silver Medalist Joyce is a man in a hurry at 33. He has stopped all nine of his opponents, and Jennings represents the step up that Joyce needs at this point in his career. He has already picked up the Commonwealth Title, as well as the spurious WBA Gold Title. He has stoppage wins over Bermaine Stiverne and Alexander Ustinov in his last two bouts.
Bryant Jennings is a decent test for Joyce, and he will still harbour ambitions of climbing back up the Heavyweight ladder.
His three defeats have come to Wladimir Klitschko (points) and Luis Ortiz (Lost TKO7) both in 2015, and comes off a loss in his last outing in a last round stoppage defeat to upcoming Dillian Whyte opponent, Oscar Rivas. Jennings was competitive and in the fight on the cards at the time.
Prediction: It would be a real statement should Joyce stop Jennings, but I feel he may have to rely on his boxing skills instead, and may be forced to take the long route for the first time in his career. My pick is a wide points win for the Londoner.
Elsewhere on a packed card, Liam Williams (20-2-2, KO15) goes for an improvement on his world ranking with a vacant WBC Silver Middleweight Title fight against Algerian born Frenchman, Karim Achour (27-5-3, KO4). It would be a decent statement should the Welshman stop Achour, who hasn’t previously failed to see the final bell, and has lasted the distance with Martin Murray, Lukas Konecny and David Lemieux. I think Williams, with his ferocious work rate, can be the man to change this, and favour him to stop Achour just after halfway.
There is a decent scrap for the WBO European Featherweight Title as impressive unbeaten, Archie Sharp (15-0, KO8) squares off with recent British Title challenger, Jordan McCorry (18-5-1, KO4).
Scotsman McCorry was game in defeat against Sam Bowen back in March, and Sharp, with his slick boxing skills, should retain on the cards.
Sunny Edwards (11-0, KO4) vies for the vacant IBF International Super Flyweight Title against the Mexican Hilam Gallardo (12-2-2, KO4). Prospects Willy Hutchinson, Hamzah Sheeraz and Denis McCann also feature on a marathon bill.
