Natural heavyweight Daniel Dubois has KO power, youth and thunderous jab that can ruin Oleksandr Usyk’s Tyson Fury dream
Daniel Dubois faces one of the world’s best pound-for-pound fighters in Oleksandr Usyk but the British heavyweight has the size, youth and firepower to cause the unbeaten Ukrainian problems.
‘Dynamite’ Dubois is the underdog on August 26 for a reason, having never beaten a boxer even close to Usyk’s level. But with many bookies the 25-year-old Londoner is longer odds than professional boxing novice Francis Ngannou is to beat Tyson Fury, which is ridiculous.
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Dubois has had 20 pro fights, lost only one, scored 18 KO wins, claimed the British and Commonwealth titles, and trained solely in boxing since the age of nine. If they were to box, Dubois would beat Ngannou just as easily as the Cameroonian would defeat Dubois in the Octagon.
Of course, what the odds also reflect is Usyk’s incredible talent. A southpaw master-boxer with sensational footwork, skills, grit and proven at the highest level in two weight divisions. Usyk has beaten every opponent he’s faced, Dubois was stopped – with a shattered orbital bone – by his best opponent Joe Joyce.
But Dubois does bring weapons to threaten Usyk. He is a naturally heavy-handed puncher – with power in both fists – who puts his shots together superbly when he goes on the attack.
Anthony Joshua also had heavyweight power and struggled to seriously damage Usyk. But AJ – while proven at a much higher level than Dubois – has never been a natural combination puncher, and Usyk was able to evade most of his blows that came in ones and twos.
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Dubois has a thudding jab and when he lets his fluid attacking punches go, it’s easy to see why - before the upset defeat by Joyce three years ago – he was widely considered the no.1 prospect across all of heavyweight boxing.
There is also the fact that Dubois is fresher, 11 years younger and a 6ft 5in natural heavyweight. As great as he undoubtedly is, Usyk is still a cruiserweight legend who’s spent the majority of his career at 200lb. As Queensbury Promotions’ Dev Sahni correctly puts it: Dubois hasn’t weighed 200lb since he was 13 years old.
However there is also no glossing over the struggles Dubois has had to get here. Joyce found him worryingly easy to hit with a heavy, thumping jab. Then in his last fight, Dubois went down three times in round one against unheralded Kevin Lerena – albeit on the second two occasions, Dubois took a knee as he was struggling to balance on a badly injured right leg.
Dubois showed the heart some critics said he lacked after loss to Joyce by battling through a nightmare first round, and an injury, to stop Lerena in round three. But it’s easy to understand why some fight fans will ask if Dubois went life and death with Lerena, how is he supposed to hang with a boxer of Usyk’s class?
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For all Usyk’s qualities, however, he is not a devastating puncher at heavyweight. His sole stoppage in the division came against Chazz Witherspoon, who retired on his stool four years ago. Usyk stung Derek Chisora and Joshua, but couldn’t knock either man down let alone out.
If durability and the ability to take a punch are question marks over Dubois, Usyk might be a better fit for him than, say, Fury, Joshua or Deontay Wilder – who could all almost certainly hurt Dubois.
Then there’s the question of Usyk’s motivation. After the convincing but draining victory over AJ in the rematch, Usyk was clear: “I want to fight him [Fury] and if I'm not fighting Tyson Fury, I'm not fighting at all.”
Now Usyk has changed his mind, determined to cling on to his three world titles and hoping Fury can be tempted into the ring this winter. But it’s clear Usyk is solely interested in fighting Fury, that Dubois is an inconvenience. The 36-year-old would hardly be the first champion to come unstuck when facing a mandatory foe they did not want to fight.
The fact that this fight is in Wroclaw, Poland, which has a huge Ukrainian population is significant – Usyk has said it is the closest he will get to a homecoming bout. But home advantage does not always work in boxing. Many fighters actually feel an additional pressure, especially those not used to fighting at ‘home’ – and Usyk has been boxing on the road since 2016.
For Dubois, the pressure is off, relatively speaking. Sandwiched between AJ’s rematch with Dillian Whyte in early August and the Fury vs Ngannou bout in October, he is the UK heavyweight given the lowest chance of victory.
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And while leaving Shane McGuigan and changing trainer before the biggest fight of his life is not ideal, the incoming Don Charles is an experienced heavyweight coach who was in the corner when Chisora gave Usyk a surprisingly tough, gruelling fight in 2020.
Charles will know better than anyone that work rate, pressure, trying to pin Usyk down and not letting the slippery counterpuncher get into his magical rhythm is absolutely crucial. Dubois is not as charismatic as Chisora in front of the cameras, but summed it up succinctly when he said: “I'm younger, stronger, and I've got to release it all. Unleash hell on this guy.”
But then there is also truth in Usyk’s words when he says: “Do I look like a man afraid of Daniel? He has no confidence. He’s just talking about confidence. He’s a little bit too young and too emotional.”
Usyk simply has all the pedigree at this level. He has fought the world’s best cruiserweights in their own backyards and beaten them, then pulled the same trick with at least one elite heavyweight (twice). He has come through hard times to be victorious in hard distance fights in a way that Dubois is yet to prove he can do.
But Usyk is not unbeatable. Joshua, for all his struggles with Usyk’s style, landed some hefty blows in their second fight. Chisora made life very uncomfortable for Usyk early on, while the Ukrainian’s victory against Mairis Briedis back in 2018 was a knife-edge majority decision win.
Usyk has shown such unique skill and unmatched will to win that it’s almost impossible to pick against him. But a naturally bigger, more powerful, fresher fighter who – unlike Joshua – has been boxing since he was a boy and knows how to throw punches in bunches will always have a chance. Dubois is a deserved underdog, but one with a definite bite.
Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois is live from Poland on talkSPORT on Saturday 26 August
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