Rising heavyweight star Daniel Dubois will have his next fight against Erik Pfeifer behind closed doors on Saturday August 29.
The fight, which will take place at BT Sport Studios in London, will be a tune-up for the eagerly-awaited showdown with Joe Joyce planned for London’s O2 Arena on Saturday October 24.
The showdown with Pfeifer will take place live on BT Sport with the WBO International Heavyweight title at stake, and announcing the fight on Instagram, Dubois said: “Time to blow off the cobwebs. I want to deliver a big performance before I KO Joe.”
Dubois (14-0 with 13 victories inside distance) is seen by many experts as the next big thing in the heavyweight division and potentially the successor to the current champions Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Aged just 22, Dubois should in theory have few problems getting past 33-year-old German Pfeifer, who comes into the bout with a 7-0 professional record with five wins inside distance. Pfeifer is a two-time Olympian, having competed at the 2012 and 2016 Games in London and Rio, and he also won bronze at the 2011 and 2013 World Championships.
Joyce (10-0 with nine inside distance) meanwhile will also have an interim bout ahead of the clash with Dubois, and his opponent will be Pfeifer’s stablemate Michael Wallisch (20-3, 13 inside distance). Their bout will take place on Saturday July 25 – again at BT Sport Studios – with the bout aired live on BT Sport.
Frank Warren, whose Queensberry Promotions looks after both Dubois and Joyce, said: “Daniel and Joe returning is obviously huge, headline news and scheduling these fights reflect our growing confidence that Daniel and Joe will be able to finally square off on October 24th. I spoke to both teams and they both said that as it looks like we’re going to finally do this in October, they’d like tune-up fights first. Thankfully, BT liked the idea and here we are.
“Daniel hasn’t boxed since December and Joe will have been out for an over year. These fights will sharpen them up and I’m sure they will deliver knockout performances that will get fans even more excited for October.”
