Daniel Dubois has withdrawn from his world title eliminator against Frank Sanchez. The IBF had ordered a final eliminator for their heavyweight world title, held by Oleksandr Usyk, between former champion Dubois and Cuba’s Frank Sanchez.
The winner of this eliminator would become the mandatory challenger for unified champion Usyk but, by withdrawing from the Sanchez fight, Dubois has forfeited the chance to set up a third clash with the great Ukrainian. Usyk halted the British puncher in both their 2023 title clash and their fight this summer for the undisputed world championship.
Sanchez remains in the running for the final eliminator, with America’s Jared Anderson the next most highly ranked contender in the IBF’s heavyweight ratings. Dubois becomes the latest IBF ranked fighter to reject a final eliminator as Efe Ajagba, Moses Itauma and Richard Torrez Jr also turned down the opportunity for a fight against Sanchez.
A spokesperson for Queensberry, Dubois’ promoter, told Sky Sports: “The eliminator holds little value right now for Daniel. Derek Chisora was named the IBF mandatory at their last convention so the fight vs Frank Sanchez is to be installed as next in line after Chisora.
“Add to that the IBF is last in the queue of the unified championships held by Usyk. If Daniel accepted the fight, it would also limit his options with the other organisations. Daniel was proud to be IBF champion but the order and fight itself do little for his career and getting him back into a position to fight for a world title. Daniel will be back in 2026 and there are some huge fights out there for him.”
Dubois is a promotional stablemate of new WBO world champion Fabio Wardley and Dubois is also ranked No 4 in those WBO heavyweight ratings. Promoter Frank Warren previously told Sky Sports: “Next for Wardley will be a defence of the title so he’ll have someone who’s ranked in the top 10. He will fight one of those guys. That’s what it’s going to be, a big fight for him. That’s all he’s looked for. He’s never ducked anybody, that’s all he’s talked about, is big fights. Hopefully we’ll do that early spring.”
Frank Sanchez is still waiting for an opponent to accept an IBF final eliminator fight.
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