Undefeated British heavyweight Daniel Dubois survived some big shots from Ghana’s Richard Harrison Lartey to knock him out in the fourth round at London’s Wembley Arena.
After trading heavy blows in the previous round, Dubois dropped Lartey with a superb right hand and referee Bob Williams called off the fight despite Lartey bitterly arguing against it.
Dubois, 21, is now 11-0 (10 KOs).
“It was a fire fight, and I was still basically trying to hit him with shots,” he told BT Sport.
“I let my mind go then I thought, ‘You know what, I need to pick the right shots’.
“I hit him with a good shot and caught him on the point where I wanted to all night, so it was a lesson learnt.”
However, Ghana’s Lartey had his moments. Dubois ate some clean shots from Lartey (14-2, 11 KO) in this one, and Lartey definitely went for it offensively, at least at times — when Dubois would give him openings, Lartey did his best to capitalize, though otherwise he held a little more aggressively than you might like to see.
The two had a rather furious exchange in the third round which got the crowd into things. It may only be a few seconds, and obviously nothing huge lands for a big KO shot, but they were throwing some bombs at each other. A right hand from Lartey seemed to get Dubois’ attention.
Well that was a wild exchange ?? #DuboisLartey pic.twitter.com/KDS2FKMCOQ
— Boxing on BT Sport ? (@BTSportBoxing) April 27, 2019
Lartey’s success didn’t last long. It was a right hand that put the Ghanaian down in the fourth round, and though he did get to his feet and beat the count, referee Robert Williams called the fight there.
There it is! ?
Daniel Dubois knocks out Richard Lartey in the fourth round after an exciting heavyweight fight at Wembley Arena ? pic.twitter.com/06EzXxNGJz
— Boxing on BT Sport ? (@BTSportBoxing) April 27, 2019
Lartey, who had a big opportunity here, was barking mad about it after the fight, talking to Williams through the announcement of Dubois as the winner.
The British Boxing Board of Control said on Wednesday that Dubois has agreed a deal for a British title fight with Joe Joyce, who was ringside in London on Saturday.
Joyce’s next fight will be on the undercard of Billy Joe Saunders’ match against Shefat Isufi in Stevenage on 18 May after signing with Frank Warren, who also promotes Dubois.
When asked if he will beat 33-year-old Joyce, Dubois said: “Definitely – as long as the preparation is right, I stay focused, listen to the people around me, I’ll beat anyone I believe.”
Joyce, who has won all eight of his bouts, said he thought Dubois “got a little troubled” by Lartey.
“It was a very entertaining fight, he got the job done,” said Joyce.
“Fighting him is an option – I’ve got a fight in Stevenage, that’s a good warm-up, then I should be out again in July.”
