If Oleksandr Usyk is done, is Daniel Dubois the best heavyweight in boxing today?
Scott Christ: He has the argument, and it’s up to Agit Kabayel — or someone else — to prove otherwise with wins in big fights. Kabayel has a couple of good wins over Zhang and Sanchez, and Dubois can equal that. Dubois has losses, yes, but I consistently say this because I think it’s important: He bounces back from defeat exceptionally well, doesn’t seem to let it bother him, and just goes back to work and returns better than he was before.
Fabio Wardley is a very likable guy who can fight. Dubois
is an awful matchup for him. It’s an “I’m you, but stronger” deal. Maybe it sounds crazy that a guy with three losses could be the top heavyweight, but think back to Wladimir Klitschko, who also lost twice before he went on his big run. It’s not apples-to-apples, because Klitschko was a top amateur with a strong pedigree and had to change his style to get to years of dominance, but I think we might be seeing something similar with Dubois, including the part about the heavyweight division maybe lacking truly elite competition with Usyk and Fury in particular either done or close enough to it, with only money/novelty fights remaining.
If you take Usyk out of the conversation, I don’t think there’s a clear pick right now. Fury would have an argument but it’s largely on what he did years ago, and Kabayel has one. If I have to make a pick right now, yeah, I’d edge the spot in Dubois’ favor.
Wil Esco: If we’re going to take Usyk out of the equation, Dubois certainly has at least an argument for being the best heavyweight in the world right now. That said, it’s an argument I don’t truly believe. There are several top heavyweights nearing the ends of their careers and some of the prospects have recently suffered setbacks, and I think Dubois is finding his place right in between, which is fortunate.
Even at this stage of his career I could certainly envision someone like Tyson Fury beating Dubois, or perhaps even Agit Kabayel or Filip Hrgovic. Those are fights Dubois could certainly win himself, but I still don’t view him as being the clear cut best heavyweight outside of Oleksandr Usyk. Heck, maybe even Moses Itauma could give Dubois a real run for his money coming off the heels of his first ever loss.
I think until Usyk retires he still clearly holds the throne, and absent him I’m inclined to leave that position vacant for the time being. I just need to see more.
John Hansen: If it’s not Dubois, the smart pick is that it’s Kabayel. We’ve seen Dubois hit a ceiling, so I can understand the argument for Kabayel’s potential there. But we’ve also seen Dubois prove a lot more against top level fighters than Kabayel has had the chance to do yet.
I suspect most of us will say some variation of the same thing here, so let’s get bold for the sake of argument: Moses Itauma might still be the best heavyweight in boxing today. Yes, I realize Hrgovic just knocked him out, but Itauma was sweeping two cards and only lost one round on the third at the time of that finish. He’d never gone past six rounds before, really started gassing out in the 8th, and Hrgovic was veteran savvy enough to either plan on it or react to it and seize the opportunity. Itauma is still just 21 and he would have been the likeliest answer to this question if we hadn’t seen the Hrgovic fight yet.
If we’re flipping a coin to decide if Dubois or Kabayel are the best in the game right now, we should stop to consider that much of the boxing world spent the past six years accusing Dubois of being a quitter, not having enough heart, and often much worse. 22 or 23 year old Dubois went up against the peak Juggernaut form of Joe Joyce, was also winning that fight, but got his face broken and took a knee. It wasn’t just the internet commentariat blasting Dubois over it. Other world champion level fighters like Billy Joe Saunders tore into Dubois, which wound up particularly hilarious a year later when Billy Joe “I’d rather die in the ring with every bone in my face broken and all my teeth knocked out than quit like Daniel did” Saunders also broke an eye socket mid-fight and quit in the corner against Canelo. It’s even funnier when you consider Saunders hasn’t been seen in the ring since, while Dubois went on to win some version of the WBA, IBF, and WBO titles. Daniel is in the conversation for best in his class again, while Billy Joe is presumably focused on keeping his son from punching anyone else in the dick in public.
But back to Itauma: Even after the loss, I still think he’s a superior heavyweight to Hrgovic. And that’s not a knock on Hrgovic, who deserves all the credit in the world for proving once again that strategy and experience can beat talent. But, Itauma learned a hard lesson for his courage, and I think he’ll reestablish himself as soon as he books a new fight. So, for me, it’s probably even split between Itauma, Dubois, and Kabayel for best heavyweight, and I just hope we get to see some combination of them face each other in 2027.
Patrick Stumberg: Yeah, I’d say Dubois has a strong argument. With Usyk functionally gone, Joshua suffering knockdowns to Kristian Prenga, and Tyson Fury’s best win in the last half-decade coming over Derek Chisora, It comes down to Dubois, Agit Kabayel, Frank Sanchez, and Filip Hrgovic. Safe to say Hrgovic is out; laudable as his win over Itauma was, he spent most of that fight undergoing dental surgery and has a history of iffy performances, namely that late collapse against Dubois. Sanchez is unproven at the top level and got tummy-punched into oblivion by Kabayel, whose own resume basically consists of Sanchez and Zhang.
If nothing else, I’d call Dubois is the most exemplary of the top big men. He’s had nothing but tough fights since that near-disaster against Kevin Lerena and the only one among them I’d say I was being overly generous to with that description is Jarrell Miller. Basically the only criticism I have of Dubois’ modern career on the macro level is his relative inactivity, and even then he’s nowhere near the worst offender. I’m genuinely happy he’s part of this whole mess.
