{"id":817503,"date":"2026-10-29T11:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T11:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/817503\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T11:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T11:08:13","slug":"david-haye-says-everyone-is-avoiding-one-heavyweight-dubois-style-wont-work-against-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/817503\/","title":{"rendered":"David Haye says ‘everyone is avoiding’ one heavyweight: “Dubois\u2019 style won’t work against him”"},"content":{"rendered":"

While most seem to be calling for a rematch with Filip Hrgovic<\/a>, David Haye<\/a> believes Daniel Dubois\u2019 toughest test lies elsewhere, against a heavyweight \u201ceveryone is avoiding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dubois became a two-time world heavyweight champion in May, surviving two early knockdowns before dethroning Fabio Wardley with an 11th-round stoppage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then, in their immediate rematch earlier this month, the 29-year-old floored his man in the first 17 seconds and scored an emphatic second-round finish to retain his WBO title<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As for his next outing, \u2018Dynamite\u2019 has expressed his interest in a unification match with Hrgovic, who claimed his IBF title with a ninth-round stoppage of Moses Itauma in August.<\/p>\n

Their first encounter, in June 2024, saw Dubois emerge with an eighth-round stoppage victory after Hrgovic suffered two horrendous cuts over his eyes.<\/p>\n

Prior to that, the Croatian was having his fair share of success and, in a potential rematch, things could play out entirely differently.<\/p>\n

In terms of Dubois\u2019 toughest rival, though, former two-division world champion Haye has suggested Agit Kabayel<\/a>, who will defend his WBC title against Nelson Hysa on November 28.<\/p>\n

Speaking with talkSPORT<\/a>, Haye said that, stylistically, Kabayel\u2019s more fluid movement could pose serious problems for Dubois.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Dubois\u2019] a physical specimen; he\u2019s an absolute machine. [He\u2019s] the perfect-sized heavyweight \u2013 he takes a dig; he\u2019s a massive puncher.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to see him loosen up a little bit; everything feels very forceful. [He should be] a little bit more like Lennox [Lewis] in the sense of opening people up with small shots, before throwing big ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgainst Kabayel, that style of just trying to force it won\u2019t work. Kabayel\u2019s very slippery \u2013 he turns [off at] angles, throws to the body \u2026 he does more of what [Oleksandr] Usyk can do, from the amateur schooling he\u2019s had.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a very tough fight for Dubois. Agit Kabayel\u2019s the one everyone\u2019s avoiding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kabayel claimed his WBC \u2018interim\u2019 title with a sixth-round stoppage of Zhilei Zhang in February 2025, before being elevated to full champion earlier this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While most seem to be calling for a rematch with Filip Hrgovic, David Haye believes Daniel Dubois\u2019 toughest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-817503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}