Aurelia Butler

DANIEL DUBOIS’ rematch with Anthony Joshua has been plunged into doubt.That is because the IBF world champion received the green light to defend his title against another British rival.Daniel Dubois may not face Anthony Joshua in a rematchCredit: GettyDubois, 27, smashed AJ with a blockbuster performance at Wembley in September.Dynamite put Joshua down on the canvas four times on his way to a brutal fifth-round knockout to defend the IBF crown.A rematch was initially set to be pencilled in for Saudi Arabia in February.However, that may now be off the cards because of a ruling from IBF chiefs.READ MORE ON BOXINGIBF President Caryl Peoples confirmed Dubois “can make an optional defence against any ranked fighter before April 22, 2025”.That came after he was quizzed about a possible showdown between Dubois and Fabio Wardley. Wardley, 29, has thrown himself into contention following his thrilling first-round knockout of Frazer Clarke this month. That propelled him up to No12 in the IBF rankings – just behind the likes of AJ, Derek Chisora and Otto Wallin. Most read in BoxingCASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERSAnd he is desperate for a shot at one of the biggest belts in boxing. The Suffolk star said: “It needs to be a level of smartness going into this now about how we pick my next opponent, who they are, how they’re ranked, how that fight and that win would set me up going forward.Daniel Dubois already called out for next fight by giant Anthony Joshua ‘wants no part of in boxing’s worst kept secret’”Obviously hoping to get some sort of eliminator, world title shot, something along those lines.”So yeah, it’s going to be a bit more of a strategic one.”Dubois’ promoter Frank Warren also revealed his fighter’s next bout doesn’t have to be against Joshua if the Watford man is not ready. Warren said: “He is the champion and it’ll be done on his terms.”Daniel will defend his title in February and if it’s not Joshua then it’ll be against somebody who is ranked in the top five.”After April 22, the IBF will enforce a mandatory IBF title defence for Dubois – probably against the winner of Martin Bakole and Agit Kabayel – because he is required to put the belt on the line at least every nine months. However, Dubois could hold on for a unification fight – by taking on the winner of December 21’s Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk rematch to be named undisputed heavyweight world champion. Dubois stunned AJ to retain his IBF heavyweight world titleCredit: AFPHe may face fellow Brit Fabio Wardley early in 2025 insteadCredit: GettyRound by round: How Dubois demolished JoshuaANTHONY JOSHUA bravely picked himself up from the floor against Daniel Dubois – until he could no more.AJ was floored four times in five rounds by Dubois before a thudding counter right closed the show in dramatic fashion.Here, SunSport’s Jack Figg takes you round-by-round from the Wembley war.ROUND 1Dubois comes out sharp with the jab as Joshua bounces around struggling to deal with the piston-like left.Huge right hand from Dubois has AJ staggering backwards with his hands far too low from the opening bell.Joshua made to pay for the mistake as he circles out with his hands down and gets dropped by an overhand right.ROUND 2Joshua – saved only by the bell after being floored – struggles to get going as he takes shots to the face.AJ is tottering and teetering around the ring with his guard again dangerously low and inviting pressure on.Joshua is attempting to get back into the bout but his jab looks far too lazy – he doesn’t look to have recovered from the knockdown.ROUND 3AJ comes out with more intent but swings wildly with a right and connects with only thin air.Dubois pours on the pressure and hammers Joshua into the corner scoring another knockdown.The bell sounds but Dubois lands one or two afterwards – again AJ is saved by the clock as the writing looks on the wall.ROUND 4Disaster strikes again with Joshua floored once more – losing his balance as he touches the canvas.The referee gives AJ another fighting chance and Dubois lands a low blow – giving the challenger some valuable respite.Dubois slows down as four rounds come to a close with Joshua showing sensational resilience to hang in there.ROUND 5Joshua lands a huge right hand and Dubois legs buckle – an astonishing turnaround looks to be on the cards.AJ pins Dubois onto the ropes and attempts one of his signature uppercuts but the countering right hand gets there first.Joshua is caught flush on the chin, dropped once more and this time out for good. Dubois scores a stunning KO win. More

TODAY is the 50th anniversary of the Rumble in the Jungle, when Muhammad Ali confirmed his immortality by knocking out George Foreman to regain the world heavyweight championship.That fabulous, mind-blowing fight that took place before an African dawn broke over Kinshasa has been described as the greatest sporting event of the 20th Century.It has been 50 years since the epic Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George ForemanCredit: AlamyColin Hart is the last British reporter alive who was at the historic fightCredit: News Group Newspapers LtdSunSport’s man was ringside as Ali regained his heavyweight crownCredit: News Group Newspapers LtdSadly, I’m the only British journalist who was at ringside that night who is still alive to tell the tale of what occurred before, during and after that epic battle where heroic Ali plotted his greatest triumph and Foreman met his Waterloo.It may have happened half a century ago but it’s a fair bet if you should mention the Rumble in the Jungle from Angola to Zanzibar, most people will know  what you are talking about.Unquestionably it is the most written and talked about contest ever and the saga for me actually began nine months before in Caracas, when there was a press conference on the eve of Foreman’s title defence against Ken Norton.It was chaired by a strange-looking and very loud American promoter, whose hair was standing straight up as if he’d been scared out of his wits at seeing a ghost. It was my first introduction to Don King.READ MORE IN BOXINGKing announced Foreman would be making his third defence against Ali in an open-air stadium in Kinshasa, Zaire — the first bell would sound at 4am and the two men would each be paid $5million.He also explained that Zaire’s President Mobutu Sese Seko was putting up the money — the idea was to attract tourism to his country and for Ali and Foreman to return to their African roots.I found it difficult not to laugh out loud at the absurdity of it. George took less than two rounds to dispose of Norton and, come the autumn,  I was in Kinshasa about to  experience the most bizarre ten days of my working life.Mobutu was probably the most terrifying, murderous dictator who ever ruled a nation on the African continent — and with Uganda’s Idi Amin as a rival, that is saying something.Most read in BoxingCASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERSHis presence was all-pervading — giant photographs of him were on every street corner and, when the local TV station was turned on in the evening, the opening three hours were devoted to his speeches.The Zairians were scared to death of him, with good reason. Soon after he came to power, he had the Prime Minister and three cabinet ministers publicly hanged in front of a 50,000 crowd.The heartbreaking chance meeting between Muhammad Ali and Colin Hart where boxing legend revealed ‘I’m not scared to die’Ali and Foreman’s fight is the most analysed in historyCredit: AP:Associated PressAli showed he was still the top dog in the ringCredit: AP:Associated PressWhen we were given a tour of the 20th of May Stadium where the fight took place, we came across a wall pock-marked by dozens of holes.We asked Tishimpupu Wa Tishimpupu, the Minister of Publicity, how the holes came to be there and he told us matter-of-factly that was where Mobutu had dissidents and coup plotters executed by firing squad. To say communications between Kinshasa and London were difficult is an under-statement. Nobody could get telephone calls to their offices and, during the build-up to the fight, stories had to be sent by telex.The problem was many telex-operators used to disappear to have a sleep. The foreign press complained to Tishimpupu, who sent our displeasure on to Mobutu himself.The President’s unequivocal edict to the workers was “the next telex operator who is found asleep when he should be on duty will be shot”.They knew he meant it and  it had the required effect. From that moment, they were beavering away non-stop.Frustratingly, the trouble was many messages ended up at the wrong address. The Times correspondent, Neil Allen, sent a 2,000-word fight preview which was somehow found spewing out of a machine in a Cambridgeshire woodyard’s office.There were many incredible moments from the boutForeman and Ali went on to become palsCredit: AP:Associated PressSuch was the magnitude of the Ali-Foreman clash around the globe, three of America’s literary giants — Norman Mailer, Budd Schulberg and George Plimpton — were  there to cover it for various high-class  publications in the States.They were all extremely famous award-winning authors but just as enthusiastic fight fans as the regulars at York Hall — drinking with them most evenings in the casino bar and  talking boxing was another unforgettable experience.  There couldn’t have been a greater contrast between Ali and Foreman — Beauty and the Beast perhaps sums them up best.Ali, being his usual garrulous self, was adored wherever he went  from the moment he set foot in Zaire. He was worshipped by the entire population.His training camp was at N’Sele, 30 miles from Kinshasa, and thousands of men, women and children would come out of the bush to line the road and wait for hours just to get a glimpse of him as he was driven to the capital.Foreman at 25 wasn’t the smiling carefree giant who resembles a benign Buddha that we see today. He was surly,  extremely bad tempered and far from lovable.Having won 37 of his 40 fights by knockout — his fists were like two wrecking balls and menace seemed to ooze from every pore — he made Sonny Liston look like a soft, cuddly teddy bear.New ways of looking at the fight keep coming to lightCredit: AP:Associated PressIn another 50 years it will still be analysed by boxing expertsCredit: APAli at 32 was far from the first flush of youth. Hardened veterans who had been connected to boxing all their lives were among many who genuinely feared for his health and safety. It was even seriously suggested The Greatest was likely to be bludgeoned into A&E or even worse by the time Foreman had finished his demolition job on him.As they made the long walk from the dressing room to the ring the exotic setting was perfect for Ali, with throbbing tribal drums and 60,000 frenzied fans chanting “Ali, Boma ye” — Ali, kill him.Having been close to the action and seen the film of the fight many times since, I still shake my head in disbelief that Ali allowed one of the most powerful men who ever laced on the gloves to punch himself out on his body.Tactics that appeared suicidal and had his trainer Angelo Dundee going mental.Medals are usually handed out on battlefields for that kind of calculated bravery.The end came for the utterly exhausted and demoralised Foreman in the eighth round, when a five-punch combination sent him spinning to the canvas to be counted out.Hart reckons it was the most bizarre fight of his careerCredit: Heritage AuctionsOur man brought you all the news on the event in 1974Credit: News Group Newspapers LtdAli had defied logic by winning back the crown he first held ten years before. I had a gut-feeling Big George lacked stamina, which is why in SunSport I picked Ali to beat him in nine rounds.My Fleet Street colleagues, who to a man had gone for Foreman, thought I’d taken leave of my senses.As Foreman, bewildered and broken, was being led back to his corner, I shamefully behaved unprofessionally by leaping out of my seat and punched the air. Like Ali, I was elated at being proved right against all the odds. But I was quickly brought down to earth when I got a cable from my sports editor — the incomparable Frank Nicklin — which said “Why wrong round?”.A heartbroken Foreman summed up his defeat, saying: “I felt totally empty. I  hadn’t just lost the title, I’d lost what defined me as a man. I felt as if my core had evaporated.”READ MORE SUN STORIESI know George well enough to realise he has never fully got over being humiliated by Ali, despite ending up friends with his rival.And I wouldn’t be surprised when the 100th anniversary of the Rumble in the Jungle comes around that boxing fans will be just as eager to find out what went on at the sport’s most surreal and historic episode. More

CANELO ALVAREZ is in talks to make his UK boxing debut at Wembley Stadium.The Mexican boxing great has long been linked with a bout on British soil having become the biggest star in the sport. Canelo Alvarez is in talks to make his UK boxing debutCredit: GettyWembley could host Canelo’s UK debut boutCredit: GettyAnd he was in talks this year to fight Chris Eubank Jr in Las Vegas – until an agreement collapsed over money. But Eubank Jr’s promoter Ben Shalom of Boxxer told Sky Sports that negotiations are already back underway. And it could pave the way for Canelo to make a stunning UK debut in front of over 80,000 fans at Wembley. Shalom said: “For me the two fights for me are Canelo and Conor Benn. We’ve already started small conversations around the Canelo fight.READ MORE IN BOXING”Obviously that was close last time. I believe that’s a fight that interests Canelo. “You can imagine the press conference in the UK and the US, it would be absolutely huge. I think Canelo needs dance partners but he also needs stars. “I don’t think his last couple of opponents have been the biggest stars and Chris Eubank Jr’s certainly a big star.”If he’s ever going to fight in the UK, that’s the fight and that would sell out Wembley Stadium. That’s No1 on the list for me.”Most read in BoxingCASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERSCanelo, 34, instead fought Edgar Berlanga, 27, in his last fight in September in a dominant 12-round points victory. Meanwhile Eubank Jr, 35, returned on October 12 and stopped Kamil Szeremeta, also 35, in seven rounds following four knockdowns. ‘It’s bulls–t, we’re not cool’- Chris Eubank Jr reveals he no longer speaks to his dad ahead of Conor Benn grudge clashConor Benn, 28, jumped in the ring to reignite their rivalry ahead of a potential grudge bout next year. They were due to fight in 2022 but Benn failed to pre-fight drug tests and has been battling to prove his innocence ever since. The next generation bout would come over 30 YEARS since their famous fighting fathers twice fought in Britain. But Eubank has refused to rule out fighting undisputed super-middleweight champion Canelo next. He said: “That fight can absolutely happen within the next year. “He doesn’t have the pool of fighters available – there aren’t names left that fight fans want to see.”After [David] Benavidez, there are no other guys. Maybe [Artur] Beterbiev and [Dmitry] Bivol but they are not in his weight class and he probably wouldn’t go up for those guys.READ MORE SUN STORIES”Me and Canelo would be a hell of a build-up. Two very different personalities, very different background. “That would be a lot of fun. It will be a lot of fun.”Chris Eubank Jr facing off with Conor BennCredit: Getty More