The more Daniel Dubois is seen and heard with a microphone under his nose the more one feels like he should be shielded from them. At times obviously uncomfortable during today’s press conference to promote Saturday’s challenge to Fabio Wardley, he was regardless accused of being unprofessional by the WBO heavyweight beltholder’s manager, Michael Ofo, for walking out on numerous interviews during fight week.
Dubois, 28, has never liked being an interviewee. He once hated it to such a degree, in fact, that being anywhere near him before a press conference was like watching a fearful flyer arrive at an airport. Just about holding it together but, aware that, sooner or later, they were going to be asked to get on the plane.
Today, after long ago being forced to accept its part of the business, he does the very best he can. But it's still far from pleasant for the big Londoner.
Though it’s rich to attach the notion of ‘bullying’ to a sporting event that will be defined by punches to the face, what Dubois has been subjected to this week on social media and beyond – purely because he’s not the most intelligent man in the room – has nonetheless bordered on the distasteful. Let's all laugh at Dubois struggling with another interview has been the theme of the week.
None of that is Wardley’s fault, of course. But one was left wondering what he must have made of Dubois, a fighter accused of ‘quitting’ on three separate occasions in a boxing ring, looking to the exit door this week every time an interview became too much to bear.
That he keeps putting himself through such an ordeal might one day prove more telling about his character, however.
“I’m very focused, I’m very dialled in,” Dubois insisted when asked about his mindset at this stage of proceedings.
“Oh yeah,” Wardley responded. “Look at him. So chilled out.”
Wardley will know, however, that the Dubois forced to answer questions before a fight is very different to the Dubois who is in the ring, away from those pesky microphones, with only the actual fight to worry about.
Wardley, 20-0-1 (19 KOs), will also know he could have gone an easier route than Dubois, 22-3 (21 KOs), for a first defense of his WBO heavyweight title. But then the same could be said about his career as a whole; the jumps he made at various points – whether up to Frazer Clarke, Justis Huni or Joseph Parker – were deemed highly dangerous before he embarked upon them.
“It’s been a wild 10 years [since I turned professional],” Wardley agreed, “it’s been going at a pace. I’ve always thrown myself in at the deep end… I haven’t changed that perspective or that outlook. I want the biggest and best tests out there.”
Here we are again, then, with Wardley. Another fight that is deemed his toughest test to date, another contest where there is genuine uncertainty. However, without a world title victory under his belt, but with that belt already around his waist, Wardley is perhaps under more pressure than he’s been before.
Previously, whether win or lose, it was all about the journey, the education, and the experience, for the 31-year-old. Lose here, however, and that journey changes direction and the momentum he’s picked up since turning professional in 2017 screeches to a halt – however momentary that might be – for the first time. After all, without a world championship victory, will he truly be regarded as a world champion when all is said and done?
“I treat all of my fights like they’re a world title fight,” Wardley said. “In this division it only takes one punch to change the trajectory of your career… All of my fights are the biggest fight…
“It’s not pressure but it is important to me. My dream of winning a world title looks a bit different to the usual fairy tale – I never got to hear in the ring, ‘and the new’. I won’t get that, but I will get all the bells and whistles. ‘And still…’ will sound just as sweet.”
Dubois has been in this situation himself. Before he fought Anthony Joshua in 2024, “DDD” became world titlist only because of a questionable upgrade from the IBF when, in a situation identical to what would later occur to Wardley with the WBO, Oleksandr Usyk vacated. The subsequent demolition of Joshua, notched in five stunning rounds, added some validity to Dubois’ claim to be a bona-fide boxing king.
Therein lies the real bragging rights, at least for now. Though Wardley is markedly better at charming the media than Dubois will ever be, Dubois remains the only one out of the two to have won a world title fight.
“I’ve been here before,” said Dubois, starting to realise that less is more when asked for his final prediction. “A win by any means necessary. That’s it. I’m here for business. Let’s fight.”
