Asher-Smith: I couldn’t miss out on home Games
Dubois wants shot at best of British...after he’s taken care of trash-talking Bryan
DINA ASHer-SMITH said she could not pass up the opportunity of competing in a home Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this summer. The British sprinter, 26, will make defending her world 200m crown in the United States next month her main goal this season. But she will compete in Birmingham, where the athletics begins on August 2.
The european Championships start in Munich on August 15, but Asher-Smith revealed the Commonwealth Games are in the diary ‘because they are at home’. She added: ‘I love running in front of a home crowd. I love being able to perform in front of my family, friends and the fans that have been behind me since I was 16 or 17 years old.’ Although, as Asher-Smith also said, the busy schedule can take its toll, she explained: ‘Life is so short, every race we have you should grab and go for it.’ Asher-Smith finished third in the 200m at the rome Diamond League as Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson won ahead of elaine Thompson-Herah on Thursday. Jackson won in a season’s-best 21.91 seconds, with Olympic champion Thompson-Herah finishing in 22.25. Asher-Smith was close behind in 22.27 — her best time this season. ‘It was a really good field, I finished very highly in that,’ she said. ‘You always want to go out and win but sometimes it’s about the journey and you have to have your eye on the championships.’
Daniel Dubois has exorcised the demons of his retirement against Joe Joyce with a broken eye-socket as he sets out tonight to rebuff those who vilified him for taking a knee one dark london night 18 months ago.
That Dynamite Daniel should seek redemption in an unexpected chance to win a version of the world heavyweight championship is a testament to his rebuilt confidence, as well as the negotiating skills of his promoter Frank Warren.
This 24-year-old londoner with the knockout punch challenges undefeated american Trevor bryan for the Wba ‘regular’ title.
Victory would propel him within foreseeable distance of a mega-rich fight against whoever of oleksandr usyk, anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury emerges as the first undisputed world heavyweight champion since lennox lewis.
after two pushover fights lasting a total of just five minutes and 41 seconds Dubois proclaims himself ‘a new man’. of the traumatic fractures of his orbital bone which specialists told him might have ended his career had he not pulled out while ahead on points in the 10th of 12 scheduled rounds against Joyce, he insists: ‘Psychologically i have no problems.
‘in the last two fights and through all the months of sparring against big punchers there has been no reaction.
‘so i have no worries at all about the eye. i’m fine physically and mentally. in fact i’ve learned a lesson from my only setback. not about whether i should have risked carrying on against Joe but about dealing with adversity. i know i will be absolutely fine in the ring.’
bryan added his loud voice to the chorus of critics who have labelled Dubois ‘a quitter’.
This week the 32-year-old new Yorker now based in Florida ramped up the insults but the Greenwich-born prodigy simply smiled and said: ‘i don’t go in for trash talk. We english are too reserved and polite to be good at that stuff.
‘We take afternoon tea, then go out to take care of business. as it happens this is not in character with bryan from what i’ve seen of him and it tells me he’s scared of my power. i hope he doesn’t lie down the first time i hit him hard. i want this to be a statement fight for me. For everyone at home and abroad to see that i’m back.’
unusually this fight is due to start around saturday tea-time, in Florida, so the uK can tune
in live to a us event before going to bed.
Dubois hopes the major players in the heavyweight division will be watching. He says: ‘a win here will boost my image here in america. The belt will also raise the possibility of rich fights against Joshua, Fury and usyk.
‘While usyk may be easier for me to beat with my size and hitting power, i hope aJ wins his rematch. He has been great for british boxing. i’ve always wanted to fight him and there is more chance of that happening if he beats usyk and stays in the game. Yes, aJ is a bigmoney fight but i want to get to him and Tyson before they get to the age when they definitely call it a day. They are 10 years older than me so the reality is they might be done and dusted if i don’t fight them soon.’
Dubois would be willing to meet Dillian Whyte, Fury’s most recent victim, so as to step up the pressure on the heaviest guns which will come with mandatory title challenger ranking if he wins this Wba belt.
While Dubois gets back to serious business, bryan’s legendary promoter Don King is giving back-handed compliments to Warren, ‘a man i still love even though he’s manoeuvred his boy Daniel in through the side door by making Trevor take this fight’.
at 90, King is promoting the latest of more than 500 world title fights as he celebrates his 50th anniversary of coming out of prison and talking Muhammad ali into a hospital charity fight, followed by The Greatest’s fabled Rumble in The Jungle with George Foreman.
The odds are heavily on Dubois to knock out bryan at the 6,200-seat Casino Miami Jai-alai arena, which nestles below the flight path. says Dynamite Daniel: ‘Trust me. i’ll be taking that belt home on one of those planes.’
Dubois weighed over a stone lighter at 241.6lbs against the american’s 259.6lbs.