Daniel Dubois should challenge for a world title in 2026, says promoter Frank Warren.
Dubois is a former holder of the IBF championship. He knocked out Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium last year, before getting knocked out himself by Oleksandr Usyk, also at Wembley.
As he looks to return to world level, Dubois’ team will enter into negotiations to fight Cuba’s Frank Sanchez in an eliminator to become the mandatory challenger for the IBF championship.
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“We will sit down and obviously that’s going to happen,” Dubois’ promoter Frank Warren told Sky Sports.
“He will come back in the new year and he will be in a big fight.”
Sanchez could be open to boxing Dubois in Britain. His co-manager Mike Borao told Sky Sports: “Frank Sanchez made it perfectly clear that he will fight Dubois in UK, Saudi, USA, wherever, his primary focus is on winning, not the location of the bout.
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Frank Sanchez stands in the way of world title plans for Daniel Dubois
“One never knows how a negotiation goes until you really get into it, but it is always a pleasure dealing with good people that know the industry like Frank and George [Warren].
“Sanchez is a boxer-puncher, while Dubois is a pure puncher. The styles virtually guarantee an explosive, fan-friendly fight. That said, three top boxers already avoided Frank for the eliminator, I’m cautiously optimistic Daniel won’t be the fourth”
Warren is looking for Dubois to press for another world title shot in 2026.
“Of course he will. He’s only 28. He’s 28 years of age now, that’s a baby for a heavyweight and look at his losses,” the promoter said.
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Take a look at the highlights from Oleksandr Usyk’s spectacular knockout victory against Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium
“I know the one he had with Joe Joyce, that was controversial with the eye [injury] and so forth and Joe done well. To lose twice to Usyk is not the end of the world, being a young man as well.”
Warren, though, is convinced that Dubois will be improved after his experiences with Usyk.
“He better be, otherwise it’s all over. You’ve got to learn and he’s got to step up. He’s got to show everybody what he’s all about,” he said.
“That’s what he’s got to do. We know he can punch. He’s always in exciting fights and when you think about it in his last two fights back to back more people watched him live than any other fighter. Nearly 190,000 people watched him live in back-to-back fights.
“He’s exciting. He’s never in a boring fight at all.”