Heavyweight gold is on the line on Saturday when Daniel Dubois puts the IBF championship on the line against two-time former unified champion Anthony Joshua. As important as the championship is, the fact that the winner is positioned for a massive potential fight with the winner of the upcoming rematch between unified champ Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury is even bigger.
Both Dubois and Joshua have suffered defeat at the hands of Usyk but neither has had the opportunity for a massive all-British showdown with Fury. The easiest path to either a rematch with Usyk or a mega-fight with Fury for either man is to simply get the win on Saturday and hold IBF gold.
Both men are coming into the fight off of big wins, with Dubois stopping Filip Hrgovic and Joshua scoring a Knockout of the Year contender against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.
Heavyweight title fights tend to draw plenty of attention and in the modern sports landscape, that means big action at sportsbooks. With that in mind, we’ve put together our best bets for Saturday’s card. Let’s take a look at the best bets for the Dubois vs. Joshua card.
Daniel Dubois vs. Anthony Joshua
Anthony Joshua to win in 1-6 rounds (+200)
Joshua is prone to disappointing performances from time to time and Dubois is dangerous enough to put Joshua down. That said, it’s impossible to overlook the holes in Dubois’ defense. Dubois won the interim IBF title — later elevated to the full championship — by stopping Filip Hrgovic in eight rounds. But in those eight rounds, Hrgovic outlanded Dubois in power punches, connecting on 67 to Dubois’ 62. Joshua hits much harder than Hrgovic, and harder than Usyk, who stopped Dubois in their 2023 bout. Joshua seems motivated and this is a huge fight for him in the later stages of his career, so it’s easy to see a fight where Joshua abuses Dubois’ defensive irresponsibility and brings things to a quick and brutal end.
Hamza Sheeraz vs. Tyler Denny
Hamza Sheeraz to win in 1-6 rounds (+135)
This fight is -125 to go under 7.5 rounds with Sheeraz -1000 to win. It doesn’t take a deep analysis to realize that Sheeraz at +135 to win in the first half of the fight is a reasonable play when those things are considered. Sheeraz has only gone past the sixth round three times in 20 fights and this is set up to be a showcase fight for him with Denny putting the European middleweight title on the line. Sheeraz should be able to come through with the first-half stoppage unless Denny uglies the fight up enough to drag it into the later rounds.
Two-leg parlay
Joshua Buatsi and Anthony Cacace moneylines (-105)
Cacace is facing Josh Warrington. Warrington is on the back side of his career and is on a 1-3-1 run over his five most recent fights. Each of those fights have put a lot of extra mileage on Warrington’s body and Cacace is in a position to continue a solid run that has him riding a seven-fight winning streak. Buatsi is in a tricky fight with Willy Hutchinson but has the quality to come out on top in this meeting. At 18-0 with 13 knockout wins, Buatsi has yet to taste defeat in his professional career and has faced a slightly better level of competition than Hutchinson in his career making him a solid part of this two-leg parlay at nearly even money.
