Daniel Dubois is set to make a voluntary defence of his IBF Heavyweight World Title in February 2025.
The 27-year-old became interim champion with an impressive win over Filip Hrgovic before being elevated to full champion when the belt was vacated by formerly undisputed Oleksandr Usyk, who beat Dubois last year.
The hard-hitting Brit silenced any doubters who claimed he was a paper champion with his first defence – a five round blowout of betting favourite Anthony Joshua.
That career best win has legitimised Dubois’ status as one of the top dogs in the division and he has stated unequivocally that it will be big fights only from here on out.
An immediate rematch with Joshua looked likely for a period of time before the former two-time champion pulled out of talks with niggling injuries that would prevent a quick return. His team still hold out hope that the return fight can happen later in the year.
Eyes then turned to the IBF top fifteen, which included fighters like Zhilei Zhang, Martin Bakole and Agit Kabayel. The Daily Mail’s Jeff Powell now reports that there was an extremely left-field option in Wladimir Klitschko, the long-reigning heavyweight king who retired back in 2017.
Powell states that the match-up had reached negotiations stage before being pulled this week, meaning Klitschko, 48, will not be attempting to break George Foreman’s record of the oldest world heavyweight champion, set at 45-years-old. Talks have been ‘abandoned’ in the wake of Mike Tyson’s controversial ring return against Jake Paul, though it is unclear if the fight would have been sanctioned anyway.
