Heavyweight prospect Daniel Dubois did what pretty much everyone expected today at London’s BT Sport Studio, demolishing late notice opponent Ricardo Snijders in short order to set up a potential October bout with Joe Joyce.
Dubois (15-0, 14 KO) dropped Snijders (18-2, 8 KO) three times in the first round, but referee Marcus McDonnell let the round end, which made for the rare 10-6 round on the score cards that nobody was going to need. Body work was the weapon today for the 22-year-old Dubois, as he did most of the real damage on a single left hook that put Snijders, 26, down the first time, after which the Dutch fighter never really recovered, but did bravely try to keep going.
After a fourth knockdown early in the second, Snijders indicated to McDonnell that he’d had enough, and the referee stopped the fight. Official time was 0:20 of the second round.
Dubois will now, in theory, move on to a date with Joyce (11-0, 10 KO), the former Olympic silver medalist. “The Juggernaut” will turn 35 in a few weeks, and it’s time for him to get a move on if he wants to be a legitimate world title challenger, and a fight with Dubois makes for a very intriguing domestic showdown in the UK, with world title hopes not officially on the line but certainly in the balance.
That said, don’t mark it on your calendars just yet, perhaps, as promoter Frank Warren has been adamant about not doing that fight without a paying live audience, and that doesn’t seem like it’s going to be in the cards by the target date of Oct. 24. He may get enough pressure and/or money from BT Sport to put the fight on in the end, or Warren’s mind may simply change out of necessity of needing to do a good, higher-end fight, but we’ll see.
