Twenty-seven-year-old Daniel Dubois is not looking back.

There have been times in his career where he has been beaten, battered, and bettered, but recent form has had him only looking one way.

“I can’t remember what I did,” Dubois told several British reporters this week, thinking back to the day after his first meeting with Usyk. 

“I don’t want to go back, it’s in the past.”

Dubois has clearly done enough reflecting and soul-searching regarding his losses to Usyk and Joe Joyce, but he is much happier about the Dubois he has subsequently become; the increasingly fearsome predator who stopped Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic, and Anthony Joshua in his last three fights.

Despite his massive frame, this Dubois drives a Porsche and, asked about spending his hard-earned money, he said: “What are you doing it for [if you can't buy a Porsche]? You’re getting punched in the head and putting your health on the line. My dad [Stanley] had one before me so...”

Dubois and his father have a well-documented relationship. Stanley rules the roost and had Daniel training for combat, or at very least discipline, from when he was about five years old.

Daniel still hangs on his every word. That was notable in the fight with Miller, when the big American wasn’t going anywhere and was somehow able to swallow up plenty of Dubois bombs.

It was at that point that promoter Frank Warren told Stanley to go and get in his son’s corner, and join trainer Don Charles.

“I pulled him out of the crowd,” said Warren. “I saw in the third round Daniel was looking round, he went back to the corner and Don was speaking to him. Don’s a good trainer and does everything that’s asked but his dad’s is the voice he listens to. “We’re there to win as a team, he [Daniel]’s the guy taking the punches. We want him to be in the best place to win a fight. That’s why this fight [the Usyk return] was made, we made adjustments after the first fight.”

“If you can’t do it for your dad, who can you do it for?” smiled Dubois.

“My dad found Don [Charles],” Dubois explained of the link up some two years ago.
“I was out in the wilderness, seriously,” interjected Charles. “I’ll say it publicly and privately that I owe his father and him because they took me from the wilderness and it’s all meant to be. I’m not a stranger to Frank [Warren]. Frank gave me trust with a prior guy [Derek Chisora] and that qualified me to give my everything for this young man and it’s working. As I sit here it's almost unreal that we’re revisiting Wembley again and he said he’s going to repeat it. It’s destiny. Stanley said he dreamt it all and everything he told me is happening in front of me.”

The team enjoyed definitive success in Wembley last September, when Dubois hurtled through Anthony Joshua in five rounds, dropping him four times.

Joshua had, by that point, twice lost to Usyk himself, but Team Dubois has no plans to let Usyk do the double over Daniel, the way the Ukrainian maestro scored repeat victories over both Joshua and Tyson Fury.

Dubois has clearly improved, physically and psychologically, and Warren believes Usyk and his team respect that.

“Yeah, they said it before,” said Warren. “Last time they were fighting Daniel the boy, now they’re fighting Daniel the man and that’s the difference.”

What of Usyk, is he the same man that fended off Dubois in Poland?

“I’m hoping he’s losing his powers but whatever it is, it is,” admitted Warren. “I’ve got great admiration for him as a champion, he’s done everything he’s had to do. On the strength of his record, he’s the best heavyweight of his generation but everyone is the best until they get beaten and I think his time is up. Daniel has the tools and the ability to do the business and come away with the prize.”

And both Warren and Dubois contend that a crucial victory will propel Dubois’ career achievements ahead of those of AJ and Fury.

“It’s for four belts, no one’s ever done it [in the UK at heavyweight],” said Warren.
“It’s history making,” added Dubois.

And they both know their boxing history. Warren has implored Dubois this week to attack Usyk like the Englishman is George Foreman or Rocky Marciano, hitting anything and everything that moves, making Usyk pay for being in front of him, whether he’s hammering the target areas or crashing bombs off Usyk’s arms and shoulders.

“Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson and Rocky Marciano and all of those greats who have come and gone,” Dubois said, asked for his favorites. “This fight puts me up there with all of them and to be remembered through all kinds of history.”

And that is important to him. There are pictures of several of the heavyweight greats on the wall of his gym. 

“It speaks for itself on Saturday and then I’ll put myself up there,” Dubois went on. “I’ll bring chaos to the ring and win by any means necessary. I want to turn up the heat and bring the chaos, restore the victory and that’s what I’m on.”

Usyk is a more than formidable opponent.

He is one of the best fighters on the planet and a generational great.

But Dubois believes he is entering his prime, while at 38 – and with an increasingly long career behind him – Usyk has spoken of this being one of his final two fights.

“I’m a veteran now so I don’t get overexcited about this [build-up and fight] now really because I’m a veteran,” Dubois continued. “I’ve been doing this a long time, like Frank, who’s a veteran.”

Warren, a Hall of Famer who has been in the sport some 45 years, continued: “At his age, how many fighters have fought the fighters who he has fought? Joshua hadn’t fought that quality. He’s paid his dues and now it’s about drawing on that experience and showing what he’s capable of doing. He’s a monster. He can fight and that is what it’s all about. Boxing is about going out there, being calm and doing the business.”

Can Dubois stay calm with the wily Usyk in front of him, with 90,000 fans making themselves heard?

“I just enjoy it and bring a vibe, make an atmosphere, create an atmosphere and take that to the fight by being single-minded with tunnel vision,” said Dubois.

While owning all of the belts is a dream the Dubois family has long carried, it is another thing thinking days and dreams like these would actually come true.

“I couldn’t have imagined and wouldn’t have known how it would happen but I would’ve loved to believe that I would get there, you know?” Dubois said. “It’s been a long road with a lot of work, going to the gym with my dad, sparring, training… It’s been a long road and I’ve been training for this day for a long, long time.

“I believed in myself; Frank’s been there matching us right and the whole team has been moving forward and staying focused. You believed in me didn’t you Frank?”

Warren signed Dubois out of the amateurs 10 years ago, when Dubois was 17.

Now Dubois is in what he’s calling “a legacy fight,” coming off the back of three wins that he admits proved plenty to himself.

“He’s up for this fight,” said Warren. “The one thing about this fight for Daniel, which is important, is he’s not getting into the ring with someone he doesn’t know. He’s shared the ring with him so he knows what to expect. The funny thing about this fight is it wasn’t difficult to make, they both wanted it. So it’s not like you’re trying to convince someone to do something they don’t want to do. They both wanted the fight and that shows they’ve both got confidence in their ability to win the fight. 


“Daniel [wins]. He’s in a good place. He’s learned some valuable lessons from the first fight. Things happen for a reason and it was a bump in the road and he’s come out of the fight with a different mentality. We put that to the test in the first fight afterwards against Jarrell Miller because I knew he would do everything he could to intimidate him out of the ring. I wanted to toughen him up mentally and he did that with him. At the final press conference, he stood his ground and did the same in the fight and showed he’s dangerous at any moment by knocking him down in the last round.”

Dubois said his Saturday dose of chaos will include landing leather on the body, the head, the elbows…

Warren reckons his man ushers in a new era for heavyweight boxing.

He believes, like Joe Calzaghe after defeating Chris Eubank, Daniel Dubois has not received his due credit from the British fans for the Joshua win.

“All they talked about was Eubank getting beat,” said Warren of that aftermath. “But it’s actually about the next great guy. He [Calzaghe] turned out to be the best out of all of them [Nigel Benn, Eubank, and Steve Collins]. Everybody will talk about Usyk and quite rightly they should, but him [Dubois] beating the guy who’s undefeated and beaten everybody then makes him The Man.”


Dubois has his mind on the job. 

“When you’re in training camp, you don’t have time for luxury, it’s just a grind so when this is over, we can have a laugh and play about a bit, but right now I’m in fight mode,” said Dubois.

And he has no plans of dodging anyone should he hit the highest heights on Saturday.

“We’ll go back up there and fight whoever, whoever wants it can get it.”