It seems to be widely accepted that Daniel Dubois found the key to unlocking his true potential during the testing middle rounds of his make or break fight with Jarrell Miller last December.
In reality, the IBF heavyweight champion’s moment of self discovery may just have come a few months earlier, in the dark days following his stoppage defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
The way Dubois, 21-2 (20 KOs), seemed to accept his fate when the brilliant Ukrainian put him under pressure gave fuel to those who labeled him a quitter when he took a knee and allowed himself to be counted out of his British title fight with Joe Joyce when the pain of a badly broken eye socket became too much to bear.
Maybe Dubois decided to stop caring what people thought of him. Maybe losing for the second time removed every ounce of expectation from his shoulders. Maybe the eight and a bit rounds that he shared with the current undisputed heavyweight champion crystallized to him that he does have what it takes to succeed at the highest level.
Whatever the reason, whilst he was being publicly written off, privately Dubois managed to find some confidence during the fight’s post-mortem and quietly got on with the task of reinventing himself.
Four months later he turned up in Saudi Arabia for his fight with the loud, controversial Miller, a much more relaxed, more determined character.
The first sign that this was a different Dubois came at the pre-fight press conference when he told ‘Big Baby’ that he would, ‘beat him like he was his daddy.’
The uncharacteristic line drew laughs and more than a few patronizing comments but it was a breakthrough for the softly spoken Dubois who willed himself on through some difficult moments to outlast the American and stop him in the 10th and final round.
Dubois’ promoter, Frank Warren, first noticed a change in his persona before the fight with Miller but by the time Dubois began pre-fight publicity for his interim IBF title fight with Filip Hrgovic, the difference was clear for all to see.
Dubois refused to be intimidated by the self-assured Croatian throughout the build-up and fought in the same way. He absorbed Hrgovic’s best shots and bullied the bully, stopping him in eight impressive rounds.
The win earned him two major prizes. Firstly, Usyk’s decision to vacate his IBF belt meant that Dubois’ interim belt was upgraded to the full title. Secondly, his new status put him in pole position to fight Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium on September 21.
A couple of weeks ago, Warren was at the table when Dubois’ face to face conversation with Joshua exploded. The Hall of Fame promoter believes the confrontation was a result of Joshua attempting to impose himself on a newly confident Dubois.
“I’ve noticed a change in him around his last couple of fights outside the ring rather than inside it,” Warren told BoxingScene.
“Certainly, when he sat down with Hrgovic last time. Hrgovic was talking about how he’d sparred him. I have to say, although Daniel was a kid at the time, apparently that sparring was tough for both of them. Hrgovic started talking about how he had no balls and Daniel really got into him.
“The same with Joshua. We were talking about the fight and I said, ‘Save it for the fight.’ Joshua said something and he [Dubois] said, ‘Well, let’s have it now. Let’s do it now.’ Joshua said, ‘Don’t disrespect me’ and the kid just wouldn’t have it. There was a massive change in his whole demeanor. Daniel wouldn’t back off him.
Fighting in Saudi Arabia has been good for Dubois but taking on Joshua in front of 90,000 people at the national stadium is an altogether different prospect and he will need to get himself to the ring in the same frame of mind he’s inhabited out in the Middle East. If he does, Warren thinks that he also has the technical ability to beat the two-time heavyweight champion.
“That fight is all about the jab,” Warren said. “He has to go out there and get that jab working. The same with Usyk who was a smaller man. He out-jabbed him from the outside. If he feels Dubois’ power I think he’ll go into his shell.”
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