As IBF World Heavyweight Champion, Daniel Dubois now has a target on his back.
The 27-year-old was elevated to full champion when the belt was vacated by Oleksandr Usyk, who still holds the other three major titles.
Dubois legitimised his status with a stellar stoppage over Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium, putting in the best performance of his career on the biggest stage.
Though talk immediately turned to a rematch with AJ, there are others in the division who are vying for their shot. One such man is Martin Bakole, who finds himself in the favourable position of being number one ranked with the WBA and just ordered to fight for the mandatory challenger slot with the IBF.
In theory he will then have his pick of the champions. Bakole’s trainer Billy Nelson told Seconds Out they would beat both comfortably.
“Usyk will not fight Martin and it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if Daniel vacated rather than fight Martin as well. They’ve been in the ring with each other before. Martin will stop Usyk and he’ll obliterate Daniel Dubois.
Martin wasn’t fully fit when he sparred Daniel, about 70% fit, and schooled him. Stopped him, made him quit and broke his nose. It’s fact. Martin’s already told people what happened. I was there. Barry McGuigan was there. I’m not telling lies.
And he’s also stopped Usyk as he’s told you before, albeit I wasn’t there. But why would he come out publicly, live on Sky Sports, and say that he stopped Usyk if he didn’t? Either way, what a fantastic fight that would be. Usyk’s number one in the world for a reason.”
