Tyson Fury will be putting his backing behind Daniel Dubois for the British boxer’s bout with Anthony Joshua in September.
Dubois, previously an IBF interim titlist, was elevated to become the full champion and is looking to defend his title against Joshua at Wembley Stadium. The 26-year-old can set up a future showdown with Fury or Oleksandr Usyk if he beats Joshua.
Joshua himself has a long-standing rivalry with Fury, though the duo have never met in the ring. Fury will be in attendance at Wembley for September’s fight and unsurprisingly looks set to back Joshua’s opponent.
According to his manager Spencer Brown, Fury has a close relationship with Dubois. And while he is said to be hoping for a good fight, the 35-year-old is backing Dubois to come out on top.
Brown told Sky Sports: “I think he’s a good friend of Daniel Dubois and obviously he’s in that [same] promotional company. But I think Tyson just wants to see a good fight. Who will he back? Probably Daniel Dubois.”
While Fury could be in line to face the winner of the Joshua-Dubois match-up, he is instead putting his full focus into his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk. Back in May, the Ukranian beat Fury in a four-belt undisputed unification bout.
The defeat saw Fury lose his WBC title, though Usyk has been forced to vacate his IBF Championship in order to take part in December’s rematch. The duo will meet in Saudi Arabia this winter, with Fury keen to have his revenge.
“I think that we need to get this one out the way. There’s no collision course if he doesn’t win the next fight. So it’s imperative he beats Usyk. There’ll be changes,” Brown added.
“Not in management or his team, there’ll be some other stuff that he’ll be looking at training-wise. With the closeness of the fight last time, it could have gone either way. Some people will say Usyk was three rounds in front.
Some people won’t, it’s your opinion on boxing – that’s why we love it. But Tyson Fury will be back. He’ll be firing and we’ll see a new, better, improved Tyson Fury. At his age I don’t know how much you can improve.
“But there was very, very little in the fight between them, so let’s back our British guy and I’m sure he will win and then we’re going to talk about the next stage.”
September’s fight will be the 13th title fight of Joshua’s career, with the Brit having previously held having held the heavyweight title from the WBA, the IBF, the WBO and the IBO, as well as the Olympic and Commonwealth titles.
