Author: Richard Freckleton

The all black attire worn as Daniel Dubois walks into the ring tonight, could be seen as a salute to the Former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson who inspired “Dynamite” Daniel Dubois as a kid.

Just like “Iron” Mike Tyson, Dubois has shown the killer instinct which has seen him build an impressive record of 12-0 with 11 victories by knockout.

Dubois’s 12th fight for the British Heavyweight title against the unbeaten Nathan Gorman was considered by some to be a 50/50 fight for the 22 year old from Greenwich. However Gorman proved to be no contest for Dubois who lived up to his nickname by didmantling Gorman in 5 rounds.

Although his opponent Ebenezer Tetteh has an impressive-looking record of 19-0, this will be the first time that the 31 year old Ghanaian will be fighting outside of his hometown of Accra.

Also the calibre of opponents Tetteh has faced, don’t match the level of opponents Dubois has faced and the Commonwealth title should be another belt that Dubois should be the owner of tonight.

Bigger fights are on the horizon for Dubois with “The Juggernaut ” Joe Joyce a potential big domestic fight in the near future.

There is no rush at this stage in Dubois’s career to be challenging the top tier Heavyweights but should he continue to seek and destroy opponents in devastating fashion similar to a teenage Mike Tyson, it may not be too long before the Boxing world will sit up and take notice of “Dynamite” Dubois as a major threat for the Heavyweight crown.

The sight of Anthony Joshua spitting out his gumshield after being knocked down for the 4^th time by the unfancied Andy Ruiz Jr., will live in the memory banks for a very long time.

As the dust settles on the huge shock of Joshua having the stuffing systematically beaten out of him over 7 rounds by the flabby-looking Ruiz, opinion is divided as to whether Joshua can return from this setback and reach his goal of being the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion.

Former IBF Cruiserweight World Champion Glenn McCory was damning in his verdict of Joshua and believes that the nature of Joshua’s defeat leaves him at the bottom of the pile and went on to say that Joshua could possibly be finished as an elite Heavyweight and also let his country down.

Rivals such as WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder relished in the shock result and said that Joshua was never a true champion and that his career consisted of lies.

The rematch which is scheduled to take place at the time of writing either in November or December, gives Joshua a lot of time to reflect on the loss and what he needs to do in the rematch.

Joshua clearly lacked intensity in the fight and certainly there was no fear factor of his overweight opponent who must go down as one of the most improbable Heavyweight Champions in the history of Boxing.

The defeat to Ruiz will hurt Joshua a great deal not only in the manner of his loss but how humiliating the defeat was in which he surely wanted to not just showcase his skills to the American audience in Madison Square Garden, but to also respond to Deontay Wilder’s spectacular victory over Breazeale by beating Ruiz in emphatic style to make a statement that he is the number one Heavyweight in the Division.

Instead Joshua has had to eat humble pie against Ruiz who looked to have ate all the pies but still ends up as the Heavyweight champion.

In the rematch, Joshua will be the favourite to regain his titles in which he would be expected to bring out all the rage and emotional pain he has had to suffer to prove to the doubters that the loss to Ruiz was an off night in which he was perhaps guilty of being complacent.

However, the fast hands of Ruiz exploited the defensive weakness of Joshua which certainly doesn’t make the rematch into a certainty that Joshua will win against a man who has an impressive amateur record of 105 wins with just 5 defeats and just one controversial loss against former WBO champion Joshua Parker.

It is now abundantly clear that Joshua has stagnated as a fighter since the impressive victory over Wladimir Klitschko and the rematch against Ruiz will show fight fans whether he has the heart to fight his way back to the top of the Heavyweight tree.

Tonight’s Welterweight world title fight between IBF world champion Errol Spence Jr. and 4-weight world champion Mikey Garcia brings together everything that a fight fan could wish for in what can be described as a Superfight.

Spence Jr. who dislodged the IBF title from Britain’s Kell Brook with a stoppage win in 11 rounds, will clearly come the time of the bell for the first round  have a considerable weight advantage over Garcia which could be as much as 10 lbs.

However despite Spence Jr. being the bigger man, that hasn’t stopped Boxing Legends such as Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard and George Foreman to name a few predicting that Garcia will win the fight.

Garcia has more experience with a 39-0 record compared to Spence Jr’s 24-0 record and won his first world title as a Featherweight in 2013  compared to Spence Jr. who won the IBF welterweight title in 2017.

Both fighters have formidable technical skills as fighters with a high percentage of knockouts between them which makes this a fascinating showdown between two fighters who are ranked in the top 10 of current  pound for pound fighters.

History tells us that a great bigger fighter will prevail against a great smaller fighter  as World Heavyweight champion  Joe Louis showed against Light-Heavyweight champion Billy Conn in their classic encounter in 1941 when Louis was in his prime.

Whether the 31 year old Garcia can carry the extra weight at 147 lbs and be as effective against Spencer Jr. who is in his prime at 29 years old, is open to debate but this showdown has all the ingredients of being a classic encounter between two great fighters in which Spence Jr should win by a late stoppage.

Mention the  nickname  “The Hitman” to fight fans today and many will automatically think of Ricky Hatton.  However Detroit’s Thomas Hearns carried the nickname with incredible success during his illustrious career.

Fighting under the tutelage of the great Emanuel Steward, Hearns rose from being a light punching welterweight to becoming one of the most fearsome punchers of all time.

Standing 6 ft. 1 inches with a reach of 78 inches, Hearns became the first man to win world titles in 5 weight divisions from welterweight to light heavyweight.

In what is considered the golden era of Boxing for Super Fights in the 80’s, Hearns took on legendary fighters Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler.  These fighters later became known as “The Fabulous Four” as the four fighters all fought each other in world title fights.

Although dramatically losing to Leonard in their first fight and Hagler, both fights are considered as classics in Boxing history with the first round against Hagler arguably the best round in middleweight history.

The explosive knockout of Roberto Duran in the 2nd round was testament to the explosive power that Hearns possessed in which Duran landed face first to the canvas.   Duran had previously never been counted out of a fight.

Here are some of the most memorable knockouts from the original “Hitman” to enjoy:

Fight fans of the current generation will have missed seeing the prime years of the unquestionable pound for pound King of the 90’s which was Roy Jones Jr.

Having started his professional career as a light-middleweight, Jones became the only Boxer from this weight class to go on and win a heavyweight title during his career.

Every great fighter has a career-defining fight and the bout against James Toney for the IBF super-middleweight title was arguably the fight which brought Jones worldwide attention.

With both fighters entering the ring undefeated, Toney was considered the slight favourite to win the fight which was labelled “The Uncivil War.”

With a mixture of dazzling hand speed and precise punching, Jones was able to confuse a jaded Toney who suffered a flash knockdown in the 3rd round and lost the fight by a landslide margin over 12 rounds.

Roy Jones Jr. would have undoubtedly been a match for any generation of fighter in his prime.

Any doubts? Check out the following highlights of the mesmerizing skills of the former world middleweight, super-middleweight, light-heavyweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight champion.

Former two-time IBF super- middleweight champion James Degale takes on Chris Eubank Jr. for the vacant IBO super-middleweight title on the 23rd of February.

Degale who will be 33 years old by the time of the fight, clearly has retirement from the sport on his mind having said that the perfect way to end his career would be to beat Eubank before having one last showdown with his old nemesis George Groves.

Many in the fight game believe that we have already seen the best of Degale who by his own admission had a terrible year from 2017 in which he lost his title to the little-known American Caleb Truax.

Although he regained his title in the rematch in April 2018, lacklustre performances by Degale were not helped with an injured  shoulder which required surgery and a long-term achilles tendon injury.

Former IBO super-middleweight champion Chris Eubank Jr. will be looking to make a statement of intent after his unanimous points loss to George Groves in February 2018 in the World Super Series semi-final.

Many within the Boxing community believe that Eubank Jr’s progression as a fighter has been hampered severely by the interference of Eubank Sr. who up until now has played a prominent role with his son’s career both in and out of the ring.

A major flaw that the Eubank camp have been criticized with is that Eubank Jr. has not had a full-time Trainer.  Whether new recruit Nate Vasquez will be able to help Eubank Jr. reach his full potential remains to be seen.

Despite the flaws exposed in Eubank’s technique in his two defeats to Billy Joe Saunders and George Groves, the younger and fresher Eubank Jr. with his relentless work-rate, could take advantage of Degale who can already see the horizon of his career.

How much left Degale has left in the tank after major injuries and grueling bouts against the likes of Badou Jack, and what Eubank Jr. has learnt since his defeat to George Groves could determine the winner of this fight.