On Saturday night, young prospect Daniel Dubois challenged former Olympic Silver medalist Joe Joyce for Joyces British & Commonwealth titles, as well as the vacant EBU heavyweight title, the first time the 3 were fought for together in nearly 3 decades.
From round one, the jab of the olympian controlled the pace, constantly popping it into the face of Dubois, 12 years his junior. With his robotic like jab, Joyce was able to control the pace, using his longer reach to consistently beat Dubois to the punch.
Dubois had better success with power shots, able to intermittently land his overhand right and let off short combos of hooks to the body, but despite the eye catching shots, Joyce was able to recover quickly from any barrages and return to his constant lead left.
As the fight progressed, Dubois’ left eye began to close from the constant punishing jabs, and after a career renowned for fast knockouts, his fitness as the contest went past the mid rounds seemed to fail him.
By round 8 the swelling eye had completely closed, leaving a blindside where Joyce could continue to target the damage.
In round 10, as Dubois stepped in to throw his own shots, he walked directly onto a stiff jab from Joyce, which landed bang on the painful eye damage, to ringsides shock Dubois took a knee and failed to meet the count.
Now Joyce has defeated his domestic rival, he will likely fight his old amateur rival Oleksandr Usyk for the WBO world title.