{"id":817699,"date":"2026-10-29T15:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T15:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/817699\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T15:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T15:38:08","slug":"daniel-dubois-could-face-former-heavyweight-champion-next-to-settle-unfinished-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/817699\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Dubois could face former heavyweight champion next to settle unfinished business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel Dubois<\/a> could return as early as January, defending his WBO title against a former world champion who believes they have unfinished business to address.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old 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

Things were then far more straightforward in their immediate rematch, as Dubois floored his man in the first 17 seconds and secured a second-round finish<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n

In the ring afterwards, \u2018Dynamite\u2019 expressed his desire for a unification match with Filip Hrgovic, who claimed his IBF title with a stunning ninth-round stoppage of Moses Itauma in August.<\/p>\n

With the Croatian set to face mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez in the new year, however, their rematch is unlikely to take place anytime soon.<\/p>\n

More likely, it seems, is a WBO title defence against Joseph Parker, who was supposed to face Dubois for the IBF strap in February 2025.<\/p>\n

That was until Dubois pulled out due to a fight week illness, only to lose his belt via a fifth-round stoppage defeat to Oleksandr Usyk the following July.<\/p>\n

According to Ring Magazine<\/a>, though, the Parker showdown is now being revisited as an option for January 30, either at London\u2019s O2 Arena or Manchester\u2019s Co-op Live.<\/p>\n

The New Zealander has not fought since his 11th-round stoppage defeat to Wardley in October 2025, after which he tested positive for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, and received a provisional ban from UK Anti-Doping.<\/p>\n

That suspension was then lifted this past August, with the 34-year-old claiming his positive UKAD test was caused by exposure to the cocaine used by his then-nutritionist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daniel Dubois could return as early as January, defending his WBO title against a former world champion who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-817699","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\/817699","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=817699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}