Many people within the sport have doubted the heart of Daniel Dubois, but the British superstar is answering all of the questions right now.
The naysayers have been out in force ever since ‘Dynamite’ suffered his first career defeat – a knockout by Joe Joyce in November 2020. Daniel took a knee that night in Round 10 with his eye virtually closed. It was a decision which caused widespread criticism.
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Promoter Frank Warren though has revealed why Dubois made the right call that night, saving his career and allowing him to fight another day, and rebuild it. In the process silencing some of the doubters.
Dubois made a believer of many in December when he stopped the huge Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller in the final round of their epic slugfest on that ‘Day of Reckoning’ card in Saudi Arabia.
With Miller throwing jibes about Dubois’ perceived lack of heart throughout the build-up, the pressure was on. Dubois (now 20-2) answered every call.
Warren on Dubois vs Joyce
Speaking in a sit-down interview with DAZN, Warren explained: “He needed that, he needed that big time. There were a lot of doubters there. I was a little bit disappointed by a certain amount of fighters, who were quite cruel in some of the things that were being said.
“What I mean by that, when he fought Joe Joyce he fractured his eye socket in four places, he nearly had a detached retina. One more punch, it would have detached his retina – that would have been the end of his career. He did the right thing. The things people said about it, they forget at the time he was in front on the judges’ cards.”
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That loss to Joyce wasn’t the only tough moment for Dubois, a man who has the punching power and devastating finishing ability to test the very very best.
Warren went on: “I think he showed his balls when he got knocked down by [Kevin] Lerena, who weren’t a bad puncher and caught him cold in that first round on the top of the head, knocked him over. He had to grit his teeth and come back, having torn all his ligaments. He was out of the ring for eight months after that, where he tore all the ligaments in his leg.”
The doubters were out in force again after Dubois lost his first world title challenge when he faced the great Oleksandr Usyk for the IBF, WBA, WBO and Ring magazine titles in Poland last August.
Dubois had Usyk on the floor with a body shot in Round 5, but it was ruled a low blow instead of a knockdown and Usyk was given time to recover. He would storm back to win in Round 9 with Dubois – again on one knee – failing to beat the count. Warren though once again believes there were valid reasons for the defeat.
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“Usyk is considered to be one of the top heavyweights, holds three titles. He [Dubois] could have beat him, I thought he did beat him, to this day I’ll say that was not an illegal blow. But he did what he had to do.
“I think, when I say lost heart, I don’t think he lost heart in himself, I think he lost heart in he felt he was fighting Usyk and the referee. Irrespective of that, everybody’s got an opinion and you can only say what you feel you saw.”
It’s easy then to see why many saw that fight against Miller in December as a crossroads moment for Dubois – he needed the win and he needed to show his cojones as well. He delivered, massively.
Warren said: “What I saw in his last fight was this – he had to dig deep against a guy who fancied the job, in Jarrell Miller. Tough guy, big guy, big lump, big fella, fast hands and thought that he had outpsyched him leading up to the fight – I mean he made a lot of comments about Daniel’s heart.
“All these things going on, when that bell goes, that’s is the only time you’re gonna know. And when that bell went, he got into it and showed what he was all about.
“He’s only a young man and he’s got himself right up there in the top echelons of all the heavyweights, and he’s gonna be involved in some big fights this year, there’s no doubt about that.”
