Roy Jones Doesn’t Wants Dubois To Win His Appeal, Zhang Clowns Fury Vs. Ngannou
Roy Jones Jr. is not keen on seeing Tyson Fury face Daniel Dubois.
Jones’ comments arrive as Dubois appeals his loss to Oleksandr Usyk. The latter stopped Dubois in round nine after having overcome the Brit’s body shot in the fifth round which put him down.
This was after the shot by Dubois was declared a low blow, as Usyk took over three minutes to recover. While Dubois’ appeal could overturn the result into a no-contest, Jones was not keen to see it happen.
A win for Dubois would make an undisputed fight with Tyson Fury more likely since they are under the same promoter. And yet, if that were to happen, Jones did not see it as being competitive.
“Usyk is unbeaten. We don’t wanna see Dubois fight Fury, we know Fury gonna kill the boy. We cool, but we don’t wanna see that. In the end, because a jab took you out, we cool that Usyk got the decision. So, he played it safe and said ‘we’ll count it as a low blow because it was borderline.’ Now were there trunks probably higher than they should’ve been? Yes, both of them. But that’s boxing,” Jones
Despite this being the case, the ultimate question is whether the right call was made. If it can be proven that Dubois’ punch was legal, then it is only right that a rematch should be ordered.
However, that would delay proceedings even further. Usyk’s current mandatory is the IBF interim champion, Filip Hrgovic. The latter has already stated that he will not accept step-aside money in order to allow the undisputed fight.
Naturally, that would push the Fury fight back even further at a time when fans have become frustrated at not seeing the biggest fights. And there is no getting away from that moving forward.
Zhang On Ngannou
Much in the same way, Zhilei Zhang has dismissed any chance that Francis Ngannou will beat Tyson Fury.
The pair will have their crossover fight on October 28th, 2023, as the former UFC heavyweight champion boxes for the first time. And in order to be in the best shape possible, Ngannou has hired the services of Mike Tyson.
The latter will act as his trainer and cornerman in the biggest fight of his career. Despite working with the best possible people, Zhang cannot foresee a situation where Ngannou has a chance of victory. And in doing so, he did not hold back on his thoughts about the fight.
“Ngannou doesn’t even have a puncher’s chance. It’s a college student against a kindergartner. “Money talks. You get $30, $40 million for a fight like that, you have to do it. It’s no problem,” Zhang
Zhang On Fury
Outside of that, Zhang had his own ambitions to face Tyson Fury. After stopping Joe Joyce in the sixth round, Zhang called out Fury for a boxing match in China.
However, given that Joyce reactivated the rematch, the fight never happened. Therefore, there is an increasing pressure on Zhang to produce another win.
He is the current WBO interim champion following his win over Joyce. That puts him in line to face Usyk later down the line. However, even with that, a win would put Zhang into the hat for the other big fights including Fury. And that is still something Zhang is keen on later down the line.
“For me, [fighting Fury] was my ultimate goal. And I was that close to getting there. All of a sudden, Joe Joyce activated the rematch clause. But we deal with what we have in front of us. After beating Joe Joyce again, the roller coaster is still going up. We can still get there,” Zhang
Ultimately, boxing needs to see the biggest fights being made. But at a time where the boxer’s are getting more pulling power, the concept of currency appears to be at the expense of legacy.
Although that is understandable from a prize fighting point of view, in truth, it is not going to appease the fans. And just as MMA continues to grow in popularity with the fans seeing the biggest fights being made, boxing has to continue in that way too.
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