An old tale is met with a bit of a new storyline.
BoxingScene has confirmed that the IBF postponed the Frank Sanchez-Daniel Dubois purse bid hearing originally scheduled for Thursday. A request was made by Dubois’ team for a one-week delay to the ordered heavyweight eliminator, mutually agreed to by Sanchez’s side and ultimately accepted by the sanctioning body.
The matter is now rescheduled for November 20, hardly unfamiliar territory for Cuba’s Sanchez, 25-1 (18 KOs), who has spent nearly all year waiting to land an opponent for this very opportunity.
However, BoxingScene has learned that the delay was requested not to simply stall for time but in hopes that talks can continue and that a deal can be reached.
Dubois, 22-3 (21 KOs) – who is promoted by Queensberry Promotions – aims to reposition himself at the top of the queue for the heavyweight title he previously held.
A 28-year-old Londoner, Dubois held an interim version of the title after a stoppage win over Filip Hrgovic last June 1. He was upgraded later that month when Oleksandr Usyk vacated the full IBF title to instead move forward with a rematch versus Tyson Fury.
In his lone successful defense, Dubois earned the most prolific victory of his career. He stunningly tore through countryman and former two-time unified heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua in one-sided, fifth-round knockout last September 21 at London’s Wembley Stadium.
The clock struck midnight on Dubois’ Cinderella story when he was knocked out again by Usyk in their July 19 undisputed championship, also at Wembley. Dubois previously suffered a ninth-round knockout to Usyk in their August 2023 meeting.
To his credit, Dubois has stuck around much longer than several other contenders in the IBF heavyweight elimination process.
Sanchez has already seen the likes of Hrgovic, Efe Ajagba, Moses Itauma and Richard Torrez all bail in the series of ordered bouts.
Assuming this matchup moves forward, a win will put Sanchez in contention for his first full title fight. The closest he has come to this stage was in a May 2024 stoppage defeat against Agit Kabayel for the WBC interim heavyweight title.
Just one fight has followed for Sanchez, a second-round knockout over a walkover opponent in Tijuana, Mexico.
Sanchez was previously due to next face Ajagba in what would have been a rematch of their October 2021 meeting. Sampson Lewkowicz’s Sampson Boxing won a prior purse bid, but Ajagba declined to move forward with the fight and the opportunity to avenge an October 2021 defeat.
Sanchez was then stuck in a holding pattern while he waited out a series of ordered fights. All he can do now is hold his breath and hope that Dubois’ team is sincere in its intention to use the next seven days to make something happen.
