Daniel Dubois could return to Wembley stadium for a future “mega fight” with another hard-punching Briton, Fabio Wardley.
Both Wardley and Dubois have starred in recent weeks, with IBF heavyweight champion Dubois knocking out Anthony Joshua at Wembley, while Wardley blitzed Frazer Clarke in a round to retain the British title.
That has earned Wardley a ranking in the IBF’s top 15, though an immediate world title shot isn’t yet in the offing.
“He won’t get the fight next, we never even discussed that. Fabio would like it, I’m sure,” their promoter Frank Warren told Sky Sports. “But we’re in discussions at the moment with a couple of people (to fight Dubois).
“Fabio needs to fight somebody in the top 10 now and do what he’s capable of doing and showing the world what he’s all about,” Warren added.
“To really establish himself in that top 10, there are some good fights there, great matches to be made in the next year for him.”
Wardley is on a path that can lead him to a blockbuster showdown with Dubois.
“We can build that into being a mega, mega fight that will fill the likes of Wembley with two big punchers like that,” Warren explained.
“That’s what we’ve got to work towards. In the mean time for Daniel, we’re quite near to announcing something in the next week or so. That will be a big fight for him in February.”
Contenders like Joseph Parker, who holds a WBO Interim belt, and Zhilei Zhang, who knocked out Joe Joyce and is coming off a recent stoppage victory over Deontay Wilder, could be under consideration as potential opponents for Dubois’ February title defence.
Terry Lane, Zhang’s manager, told Sky Sports: “Zhang would welcome the fight with Dubois for sure.”
Parker bounced back from defeat to Joe Joyce with a sequence of good wins, notably over both Wilder and Zhang.
“It’s got to be sensible and certainly for him fighting Daniel he fits the criteria. He’s re-established himself after Joe Joyce in a big way,” Warren said.
“That would be a good fight by the way, I haven’t got a problem with that fight but we’ve got to see what happens and let’s see how the dust settles. It’s only going to take a week or so to get this over the line.”
AJ out of the reckoning?
Anthony Joshua has slipped out of the reckoning to get an immediate rematch with Dubois.
“We had waited to give AJ his opportunity because he said he wanted the rematch but that’s not transpired, that’s not working out so we are where we are,” Warren said.
“I can’t see next time being any different to be quite honest, how I see the fight. I think he’s got his number. I felt very strongly when we made the fight it was the perfect fight for Daniel and that’s how it turned out to be. He’ll feel even better going into a second fight after such a one-sided fight as it was.
“I don’t know what (Joshua’s) options are. At the end of the day they’ll decide that between them, him and his team, but the objective for any heavyweight is to fight for the world title… He’s got to establish some credibility AJ, that’s for sure.”
