Daniel Dubois’ promoter, Frank Warren, believes the key to his fighter beating Oleksandr Usyk is to keep him “on the backfoot” with nonstop pressure on Saturday night in their undisputed heavyweight championship fight at Wembley Stadium.
Daniel Dubois’ Maturity
“I think he has in his last three fights. He’s matured mentally. He’s in a different place now,” said promoter Frank Warren to Queensberry when asked if Daniel Dubois has improved since his loss to Oleksandr Usyk in 2023. “He knows he has the power to hurt him.”
Dubois has the power to hurt anyone, but the question is, can he get to Usyk to use it? Oleksandr isn’t going to be stationary like Daniel’s last three opponents were. He’s going to be moving around, jabbing and tying up Dubois when he gets close. He can’t count on Usyk getting reckless the way that AJ did in the fifth round by rolling the dice.
“No, he’s dangerous any time,” said Warren when asked if Dubois must knock out Usyk early to win. “I think he can stop him. I don’t care how he wins it as long as he wins it. But people underestimate his boxing ability. He’s not going to be letting those rounds [go], falling behind.”
Dubois is dangerous at any time, but he’s less so in the later rounds. He loses a lot of steam by the tenth. Against Usyk, Daniel looked fatigued by the eighth. That explains why he took a knee in that round, and then another in the ninth to lose by knockout. Usyk will remember how he knocked him out and will be attempting to do the same thing.
Pressure Usyk: Dubois’ Key
“If you want to beat Usyk, you have to put him on the back foot. You take away 60 to 70% of the fighter he is by doing that. He’s a smart guy. I’ve looked at all his fights. When he gets caught here [midsection], he complains to the ref every time,” said Warren about Usyk.
Pressure is the only thing Dubois can do in his fight to have a chance of winning. He’s not going to outbox Usyk, and he’ll likely run out of gas in the later rounds anyway. If Daniel doesn’t pressure Usyk, his chances of surviving to the final bell are slim. At some point, Oleksandr will open up with a barrage of punches and take Dubois out unless he gets to him early.
