Daniel Dubois (248.6) Career Heaviest For IBF Title Defense Versus Anthony Joshua (252.5)
The most attended all-British heavyweight title fight in history is now one sleep away.
Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua arrived ready to fight as they hit the scales on Friday. London’s Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) weighed a career-heaviest 248.6 pounds, while Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) checked in at 252.5 pounds.
Their scheduled 12-round IBF heavyweight title fight headlines a DAZN Pay-Per-View event this Saturday. The UK launch of Riyadh Season is expected to attract a Wembley record 96,000 fans in attendance. Thousands of fans flocked to Friday’s weigh-in at London’s Trafalger Square.
Dubois arrived for his first title defense lighter than his win that eventually led to this status. He surpassed his career high weight of 245.8 pounds in his June 1 technical knockout win over Filip Hrgovic in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The feat saw Dubois claim an interim version of the IBF heavyweight title.
An upgrade came later in the month when RING champion Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) vacated the full IBF belt. The unbeaten Ukrainian still holds the WBC, WBA and WBO belts. However, he agreed to allow Dubois and Joshua to have a proper title fight for Riyadh Season’s UK debut.
Usyk holds a knockout win over Dubois and two decision victories over Joshua.
Saturday marks Joshua’s first title fight since his repeat loss to Usyk in Aug. 2022. The hulking Brit saw his second unified title reign end in a Sept. 2021 unanimous decision defeat to Usyk in North London.
Four wins have followed for Joshua, including his first-round knockout of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou on March 8 in Riyadh. Joshua was roughly the same weight as was the case on Friday.
Joshua won his first major title—the IBF belt—in an April 2016 second-round knockout of then-unbeaten Charles Martin.
Six defenses followed, including victories over Wladimir Klitschko and Joseph Parker to add the WBA and WBO titles. His unbeaten run ended in his June 2019 U.S. debut when he was knocked out by Andy Ruiz. Joshua avenged the defeat six month later in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
Joshua is rated No. 2 at heavyweight by The Ring; Dubois is No. 6.
Below are the weights for the rest of the undercard.
Tyler Denny (19-2-3, 1 KO; No. 10 at 160 by The Ring, Rowley Regis, West Midlands, 159.9 pounds
Hamzah Sheeraz (20-0, 13 KOs; No. 3 at 160 by The Ring), Ilford, Essex, 159.6 pounds
12 rounds, middleweight
Joshua Buatsi (18-0, 13 KOs; No. 4 at 175), Croydon, London, 174.7 pounds
Willy Hutchinson (18-1, 13 KOs; No. 9 at 175), Carstairs, Scotland, 174.9 pounds
12 rounds, interim WBO light heavyweight title
Anthony Cacace (22-1, 8 KOs; No. 5 at 130), Belfast, N. Ireland, 129.8 pounds
Josh Warrington (31-3-1, 8 KOs; No. 10 at 126), Leeds, Yorkshire, 129.5 pounds
12 rounds, junior lightweight (Cacace’s IBF title not at stake)
Josh Kelly (15-1-1, 8 KOs), Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, 159.1 pounds
Ishmael Davis (13-0, 6 KOs), Leeds, 159.3 pounds
12 rounds, middleweight
Mark Chamberlain (16-0, 12 KOs; No. 9 at 135), Portsmouth, Hampshire, 139.4 pounds
Josh Padley (14-0, 4 KOs), Armthorpe, Yorkshire, 139.6 pounds
10 rounds, junior welterweight
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