Joshua – Dubois: Is Saturday’s IBF World Heavyweight Title Fight Really That Significant?

As Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua make final preparations for their world heavyweight showdown on DAZN PPV  for the IBF title on Saturday, there will be speculation about how the outcome of this fight will affect the heavyweight division.

(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)

Anthony Joshua is the bookmakers’ favorite to win this bout. If Joshua does emerge victorious on Saturday, he will become a three-time world heavyweight boxing champion and will join Muhammad Ali, Lennox Lewis, and Evander Holyfield as the only boxers to have won the world title on three separate occasions. On the face of it, this would be a tremendous achievement for Joshua.

However, the background to this fight suggests otherwise. On 15 April, Dubois won the vacant IBF interim heavyweight title after beating top-ranking contender Filip Hrgović. Dubois then became full IBF champion on 26 June after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the title. This means that Dubois became a world champion by default and not by beating the reigning IBF champion. Furthermore, Dubois lost his world title fight against Oleksandr Usyk in August 2023.

If Joshua beats Dubois on Saturday, it may, therefore, be difficult to argue that Anthony Joshua would then be a three-time world heavyweight champion in any meaningful sense. Given that AJ would have beaten a fighter who only won the IBF belt by default, Joshua’s claim to being a three-time world heavyweight boxing champion would have less legitimacy. Former super-middleweight world boxing champion and pundit Carl Froch says it best when he argues that any Joshua win over Dubois would be less impressive, as AJ would have taken the IBF title away from the rightful champion Usyk – a fighter whom Joshua lost to.

In the event that AJ wins on Saturday, it is arguable that the best he can hope for is that Tyson Fury beats Oleksandr Usyk in their re-match on 21 December. This would open up the prospect for another all-British clash between Fury and Joshua sometime next year to become the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World. An Usyk win on 21 December would not be good news for AJ, considering that he has already lost twice to Usyk.

In light of the above, Daniel Dubois would have more to gain, if he beats Joshua on Saturday. A victory for Dubois would lend credence to his claim that he is now an elite fighter, and would present him with lucrative opportunities of world championship fights against Fury and/or Usyk.

Despite reportedly attracting a crowd of over 90,000 at Wembley Stadium in England, the Dubois-Joshua fight seems to pale in significance compared with the rematch between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia in December for the right to be called unified world heavyweight champion.