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Steve KimESPN
The long-awaited battle of undefeated British heavyweights Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce will now take place on Nov. 28, according to promoter Frank Warren.
Dubois-Joyce has already been pushed back from April, July and October, with Warren hoping to have fans allowed inside an arena for the fight.
“With boxing still being behind closed doors and struggling back to its feet post-lockdown, I wanted to give something of a gift to British boxing fans,” Warren told Boxingscene.com. “Dubois versus Joyce is the best fight on the British boxing calendar and I want this to be something as many people as possible can enjoy. It’s a bonus that the added exposure gained from the fight will really help the boxers as they move forward with their careers.”
This bout will be carried on BT Sport in the UK.
“I sound like a broken record I’m sure, but sometimes you have to put the sport and the fans first,” Warren said. “Queensberry gets that and BT Sport gets that. ‘For the fans’: It’s what it’s all about.”
Joyce (11-0, 10 KOs), a 2016 Olympic silver medalist, brings a methodical pressure style to his game, with a heavy set of hands. At age 35 he has to be moved relatively quickly up the ladder. Dubois (15-0, 14 KOs), 23, is developing his skill set to a point that he is already considered the best pure heavyweight prospect in the world.
Dubois-Joyce would normally be one of the biggest boxing events of the year in the U.K., a rare matchup of unbeaten heavyweights who are willing to square off before fighting for a world title.
Warren has been trying to stage the fight in front of fans, waiting for the British government to allow even a reduced crowd.
“We need a crowd and anything is better than nothing,” Warren told ESPN recently. “With the York Hall for instance, if you are only allowed 20%, so that’s a crowd of 300,” he said. “There’s no value in that, and there’s no value in a crowd of 1,000 for a big fight. We would fill the O2 for Dubois-Joyce, 20% of that is 4,000 and that’s not great but it’s better than nothing and gives us some income.
ESPN’s Nick Parkinson contributed to this report.