DANIEL DUBOIS’ climb to the top of the heavyweight division and stunning knockout of Anthony Joshua would have shocked many.
But not the great Mick Delaney.
Delaney is the legendary amateur boxing at Dale Youth in West London who worked with the likes of James DeGale and George Groves.
And he also brought through a teenage Dubois, who weighed as much as 16 STONE during those days.
A sensational Boxing News column dug out on the BBC’s boxing podcast revealed how Delaney saw into the future in 2015.
Nearly ten years ago, Delaney wrote: “You can tell, I think, within a year if a boxer has got something special.
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“With DeGale and Groves, you could tell from their first junior bouts they were going to be special.
“Now we have a super-heavyweight, Danny Dubois, who had a win in Durham at the Youth Championships, a national competition at the weekend.
“He’s already a potential GB podium squad member up in Sheffield. He’s going to be something special.
“He weighed in at the weekend at over 102kg, he’s a huge lad. A lot of people are saying he’s going to be another Anthony Joshua.
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“He’s very heavy-handed and he’s a good boxer with it. It’s a long way to go but if he keeps his feet on the floor and behaves himself I think he can go as far as Joshua.”
Dubois had a relatively short senior amateur boxing career – turning professional in 2017 aged 19 after snubbing the Olympics.
But the junior amateur champion represented top clubs like Dale Youth, Repton and Islington before turning over.
In the build-up to his world title defence against AJ, rumours of how he floored the millionaire superstar persisted.
But he emphatically left no room to argue when it mattered as he floored Joshua FOUR times before a brutal round five KO.
A rematch is on the cards of Joshua, 34, refused to retire.
But Dubois, 27, also has a Oleksandr Usyk, 37, in his sights after being beaten by the heavyweight king last year.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
