ONE thing immediately apparent here, compared with six months ago the last time I sat down with Daniel Dubois?
He exudes an air of assurance seldom on display prior and granted, this all makes sense. Usually tight, tense and standoffish, you’re no longer looking at a contender but the bonafide IBF world heavyweight champion.
Today is different. He wants to joke among the assembled written media about buying helicopters, not “looking like a Christmas tree” during future ringwalks and wondering aloud why Italian luxury sports cars weren’t designed with big boys like him in mind.
It’s refreshing, if a bit uneasy, to see Dubois as open as this. He’s got a 15-person audience – team members, PR staff and the like – hanging on his every word and for once, nothing bothers him.
“All this talk about AJ and people making excuses for his loss, you’ve got to celebrate the new king! It’s like someone in the royal family died and the country has gone into mourning.”
He’s got something to say. Quite a few things, actually. His compassionate side was laid bare in the ring, three months ago this weekend after scoring four knockdowns and later flattening Anthony Joshua with a counter right to cap a stunning fifth-round knockout victory.
Rather than wheel away wildly to celebrate a career-best win, one increasing his earning potential tenfold and likely fast-tracked Joshua’s departure from the sport he once ruled, Dubois shrugged off coaches Kieran Farrell and Don Charles, waiting patiently to check on his fallen foe.
He looked guilty, pacing up and down the ring for over a minute before acknowledging a concussed Joshua as father Robert commiserated his son in the corner. Why? “It’s boxing, you can never get too carried away, that could’ve been me. It could always be you on the deck, people walking over you.”
Dubois lets out a hearty laugh, composes himself again and accepts being anxious to finish the job as early as possible after dropping the two-time former unified heavyweight champion in a whirlwind first-round.
“I’m glad we got the job done and we’re here now. I’ll always respect AJ for giving me the opportunity, glad I took it,” Dubois said before adding he hadn’t spoken to Joshua since that night in a lonely sport where there’s no time for friends. Especially not when you’re the new divisional king.
As far as the dynamic within his coaching staff? “It’s fiery and explosive behind-the-scenes but ultimately everyone has fallen in line and worked together to get me here so full respect to everyone, Don and my dad, the rest of the team.”
Just as his promoter Frank Warren was open to the possibility, Dubois wouldn’t reject the rematch but time moves on and he’s got a new target, having met face-to-face with former WBO world champion Joseph Parker minutes before this interview began. They’ll box on a stacked bill back here in Riyadh, February 22, a prime example of why perseverance pays off.
Parker, like Dubois, has needed to rebuild after high-profile defeats at world-level. 27 months ago, he would’ve been introspective about the future after falling short despite producing a gruelling effort against then-unbeaten contender Joe Joyce. How drastically things have changed for all three since. Parker’s riding a five-fight win streak, most recently against Zhilei Zhang, the man who broke Joyce’s invincibility cloak and left him a sad afterthought while Dynamite is here in Riyadh on a business trip.
Setting the record straight is on his mind after that sour night in Wroclaw against Oleksandr Usyk last August and while he, like Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn and others, wants Tyson Fury to prevail here, a stronger force is pulling him the other way.
“Usyk just has luck on his side, has skills, the backing of his people and is fighting for his country. As a fellow Brit, I want Tyson to win because of everything he has done in the game, you have to respect that, but something in my heart tells me Usyk will pull it off again.”
