‘Surprise’ date emerges for potential Joshua vs Dubois rematch
Dubois knocked out ‘AJ’ in the fifth round in September, and Joshua is said to have a rematch clause
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Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois could be set for a rematch in February, as part of a “big surprise” event in Saudi Arabia.
In September, Dubois dropped Joshua four times en route to a fifth-round knockout win at Wembley Stadium. After the fight, in which Dubois retained the IBF heavyweight title, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn said “AJ” had a rematch clause.
Joshua, 34, is expected to activate that clause, and a rematch with Dubois, 25, could be part of a Queensberry vs Matchroom card. In June, Queensberry pitted five of its fighters against five of Matchroom’s, with the latter promotion suffering a 5-0 defeat. A second edition of the event has been mooted since.
“See in February, again Queensberry against Matchroom, 5 vs 5,” Saudi adviser Turki Al-Sheikh told Sky Sports on Thursday (10 October). “We will finish it – maybe this week – with a big surprise.
“Then let's see the result about this fight [Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol on Saturday], and the result of the big fight on 21 December: [Oleksandr] Usyk vs Tyson [Fury].
“Joshua, Dubois, Tyson, Usyk – everyone, everyone on the line. This is what we want: we want the big fights and to see who’s really the best fighters in each division.”
Saturday’s main event between Beterbiev and Bivol will crown an undisputed light-heavyweight champion, five months after Usyk outpointed Fury to become undisputed heavyweight king. The Ukrainian later vacated the IBF belt, which Dubois retained against Joshua in September.
Undisputed status will therefore not be up for grabs in Fury vs Usyk 2, but the WBC, WBA and WBO belts will be. The winner of Joshua vs Dubois 2, should it go ahead, would theoretically be in line for the victor of Fury vs Usyk 2.
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