Frank Warren has likened his rising heavyweight star Daniel Dubois to Mike Tyson as the youngster prepares to return to the ring following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 22-year-old Londoner (14-0 with 13Kos) will take on German Erik Pfeifer (7-0, 5KOs) behind closed doors at the BT Sport Studios on Saturday August 29 (live on BT Sport).
And assuming all goes well there he will be pitched into a cracking all-British scrap with Joe Joyce (10-0 with 9 inside distance) at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday October 24.
Many experts are already tipping the man they call ‘Dynamite’ as the future of the heavyweight division and the successor to the likes of Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. And Warren this week had incredibly high praise for his star prospect.
“He’s the most exciting fighter, at this stage of his career, that I’ve ever been involved with. Like Mike Tyson was exciting – he is exciting,” Warren told Sportbible.
Warren should know exactly what he’s talking about with those Mike Tyson comparisons of course, having promoted the former heavyweight king’s bouts with Julius Francis and Lou Savarese in the UK back in 2000.
The promoter added: “He’s answered all of the questions up to now. He can punch. He’s been hit and shown he can take a shot. He’s very conscientious about training… I know I promote both of them, but I’ve said from the beginning that Britain’s got a very good fighter in Joe Joyce: undefeated, an Olympian and so on. But I feel Daniel has the beating of him. He’s that special.”
Dubois meanwhile is in confident mood ahead of the clash with Pfeifer, which he says is ideal to get him straight for the big showdown for Joyce.
“The delay until October for the fight against Joe has given me more time to get things right and the Pfeifer fight is a bonus,” he said.
“It’s a shame that fans can’t attend, but I’m not moaning. A lot of fighters aren’t going to get work for months. Hopefully Joe does the business on Wallisch and we give fans something to look forward when we finally meet later in October.
“It’s great to have an outing so I can blow away the cobwebs. When fight night comes it will have been more than seven months since my last contest. I’ve never had a layoff that long since I started boxing. I want to deliver a big performance and then it will be all systems go to KO Joe in October.”
Joyce also faces German opposition in his interim bout ahead of meeting Dubois, against Michael Wallisch (20-3 with 13KOs) at BT Sport Studios on Saturday July 25.
