Eddie Hearn once turned down chance to sign Daniel Dubois and was soon left thinking ‘maybe he was worth the money’, now he’s a threat to Anthony Joshua

Eddie Hearn has revealed that he passed up an approach to sign Daniel Dubois before he turned professional.

The young heavyweight was known in boxing circles before making the transition into the professional game, given he spent time in the Team GB set-up.

Dubois sparred with the likes of Anthony Joshua, Joe Joyce and Frazer Clarke, and was tipped to be the man to follow in their footsteps by representing the country at the Olympics.

However, if he had stayed amateur, Dubois would likely not have had his shot at the Olympics until this year, Paris 2024.

Therefore he decided to turn professional early as a teenager, and burst onto the scene in 2017.

When making the decision to move into the pro game, Dubois had to decide which promotional company and broadcaster to align with.

He had a firm approach from Frank Warren's Queensberry with an offer on the table.

And Hearn has revealed that he was then also given the chance to beat Warren's offer, but decided against it.

Hearn told marvelbet369.com: "I never really had my eye on him, but I had Ambrose Mendy come onto me and say, 'There's this kid at GB.'

"I spoke to the people at GB and they said he's a really good young heavyweight.

"They phoned me up and said, 'This is the deal that's on offer from Queensberry, will you match it?'

"I said no because I'd hardly ever heard of him and it was a lot of money.

"That was when I first found out really and discussed Dubois at length.

"When he started out he looked really good and, I don't kick myself, but I was like, 'Oh, maybe he was worth the money.'

"Then obviously he got beat by Joe Joyce and it was like, 'Wow, all that investment [lost].' But the bounce back has been really impressive.

"I think it just shows you that when you jump in the deep end, if you get beat it's not the end of the world.

"Look at the defeats that he's had and the way he's bounced back, and now he's in the form of his career.

"And still, what is he? 26? He's really probably not even in his prime as a heavyweight yet."

Ultimately, Dubois signed with Warren and the rest is history.

He build up a record of 15-0 before suffering defeat to Joe Joyce and rebuilt to a heavyweight world title fight with Oleksandr Usyk, which he also lost.

Since that defeat though, Dubois' fortunes have turned.

He's since beat Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic, with the latter result leading to him ultimately becoming IBF heavyweight world champion.

Now, he takes on Hearn's superstar in Anthony Joshua on September 21 at Wembley, with a real chance to make the promoter seriously regret his decision not to sign him in 2017.