Barry McGuigan thinks Daniel Dubois will have his hands full with the rumoured comeback opponent he is lining up for early 2026.
Dubois is still young but has already had a whirlwind career. He started fast with several knockouts before being derailed by a KO defeat to Joe Joyce, but then rebuilt before taking a KO loss to Oleksandr Usyk.
After that, he toppled Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic on his way to becoming the IBF champion and then destroyed Anthony Joshua inside five rounds in his first defence of the belt. Last time out, he rematched Uysk but was again stopped inside the distance.
Writing in his column in The Mirror, former world champion McGuigan broke down Dubois’ ring return and warned it could be a tough night for the Brit against American Frank Sanchez in a world title eliminator.
“After his third career loss against Usyk, Daniel Dubois is being lined up for his comeback next year against Frank Sanchez, who is himself coming off a damaging defeat to unbeaten German Agit Kabayel. I’m not sure Dubois gets another crack at Usyk so he has to work his way into contention against the field.
“The problem is Sanchez is not an obvious pick for rehabilitation. He is Cuban quick, big and heavy handed. And if that right knee really was damaged against Kabayel 18 months ago, and that is how it looked, he will be doubly dangerous against Dubois … He simply has to show he can beat the likes of Sanchez, and that won’t be easy, particularly in the early rounds.”
Dubois will be hoping to look good and start building momentum to assert himself as one of the best in the new heavyweight landscape as the likes of Usyk, Joshua and Tyson Fury all approach 40 and likely soon walk away for good.
