While other aspects of his boxing game may still need a polish, there is one thing for sure – Daniel Dubois packs a wallop.
The hulking Londoner has been knocking men out for savage fun since he got started in the sport with 21 of his 22 professional victories ending before the final bell.
The famous old story goes that Dubois, then a teenager completely unknown outside of boxing circles, rocked up to Anthony Joshua’s gym in 2016 and gave the Olympian a frightful few rounds, rumoured to have left the future world champion out cold.
There was nothing lost to speculation when the two met at Wembley last September as Dubois floored the two-time heavyweight world champion four times in a thorough demolition job.
‘He looked like he tasered Anthony Joshua last year,’ former world champion Carl Froch colourfully told Metro. ‘He absolutely flattened him.’
George Foreman, one of the hardest-hitting and most feared punchers of all-time, was onto Dubois’ ferocious stopping power early doors. ‘It is obvious that Daniel Dubois will walk the trail of fame that only true heavyweights punchers can travel to,’ he commented in 2019.
But as Muhammad Ali famously said of his old foe Foreman: ‘His hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.’
The very same could apply for Dubois and Oleksandr Usyk.
Usyk’s dazzling combination of precision and speed has made him the most elusive heavyweight of the last five years, having left the cruiserweight division in a daze before making the move up to the sport’s blue-riband ranks. He and Dubois do battle again on Saturday as he seeks to become undisputed world champion for the third time in his career.
The undefeated Ukrainian dethroned both Joshua and Tyson Fury as he ascended to the top of heavyweight boxing, beating both men twice and removing them from the world title conversation – possibly forever.
Usyk’s split decision victory over Fury in May 2024 saw him crowned the division’s first undisputed world champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. Despite being the bigger man and having the concussive power instilled by SugarHill Steward at his disposal, he could not find the shots to put his opponent away.
Fury threw more punches throughout the fight (496) but only landed 157 of those. More economical in his work, Usyk landed 170 out of 407 – including the thrilling flurry of 14 answered shots that sent ‘The Gypsy King’ staggering around the ring in the eighth round.
Usyk beat Fury again last December in their rematch and despite shouts of a robbery that still linger, the numbers again show Usyk was too elusive and Fury was there to be hit.
According to Compubox stats, Fury threw 509 punches over the 12 rounds – 86 more than Usyk. Despite the tall punch volume, it was Usyk finding the target more, landing 179 of his 423 punches – 35 more than Fury. The rematch also saw Fury record his lowest punching accuracy stats with only 28.3 per cent landing. Usyk’s meanwhile registered 42.3 per cent.
Usyk vs Fury II – punches landed per round
Usyk is simply not an easy man to hit, as Anthony Joshua found out across their two bouts.
In their first meeting, Usyk landed 148 punches to Joshua’s 123, recording a punch average of 28 per cent and 19.2 per cent respectively. In the rematch, the gap was even wider, landing 170 to Joshua’s 124. While it was Joshua needing a final flurry in the final three rounds of the second bout, Usyk landed 79 in that period of the fight with the Briton landing just 29. After that beating, Joshua was a wreck, going into meltdown mode.
Usyk vs Joshua II – punches landed per round
Usyk and Dubois have of course tangled before. The latter’s camp are to this day convinced their man was wrongly penalised for a low blow given by referee Luis Pabon, adamant it was a legal body shot.
Usyk was given four minutes to recover and used it wisely. Dubois accused his opponent of taking the easy way out but Usyk boxed out another masterclass after the drama to secure a ninth round stoppage win.
As expected, that moment changed Dubois’ tactics. In the first four rounds, Usyk landed seven body punches to Dubois’ one. After the knockdown that was never a knockdown, Dubois landed nine to the body compared to Usyk’s three.
But the same old formula played out. Usyk outlanded Dubois in every round of the fight. ‘Dynamite’ failed to record double digits in shots landed in any round with Usyk landing 88 of 359 to Dubois’ 47 of 290. Having had the fight beaten out of him in the eight round, the Briton did not land a single punch on the champion in the ninth – the round where he was mercifully stopped.
Uysk vs Dubois – punches landed per round
Dubois is certainly a more ferocious operator since that night and is also now one blessed with world championship experienced having battered both Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua in the two years since. He has proven he can break down the best of them – but keeping Usyk in his sights long enough to administer that damage is another question.
‘Usyk shows punch power means nothing,’ former cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson told Metro.
‘Daniel is a naturally strong fighter coming forward. He has the power. But there is no point having power if there’s nothing to hit. Uysk is very aware of that. He has a plan A, a plan B and a plan C. He has the ability to think in the ring where Daniel hasn’t. Daniel has made massive improvement under [trainer] Don Charles.
‘But he has a punchers chance. That’s it. He’s not going to match Usyk in boxing IQ. It is the only chance he has.’
Was Daniel Dubois robbed by low blow decision?
That moment in the fifth round of their first fight divided the boxing world and has been the biggest talking point leading into this weekend’s rematch.
While Dubois, trainer Charles and promoter Frank Warren were left disgusted, former world champion Froch saw it as the right decision.
‘I believe it was a low blow in the first fight,’ Froch told Metro, courtesy of casino.co.uk.
‘We have a protector that goes around the scrotum area. Anything below the naval is soft, if you tense your stomach up, when you push below the bottom abs, you do have a soft area. The part around that and the pelvis area is classed as an illegal blow.
‘He didn’t punch him in the crown jewels, but he punched him low, in an illegal area. You can’t keep punching someone there, it’s illegal.
‘When you get hit just above the knackers, the protector pulls it into them anyway. Sometimes you get hit in the body with a low blow, at the top of the groin protector, and it pulls the cup into you; and trust me, it hurts.
‘The referee called it a low blow, so Usyk did what everybody should do who knows the game, and took his time. He was clearly in pain, but it doesn’t matter anyway, because he climbed off the floor and stopped Dubois just a few rounds later.
‘He hit him with a solid stiff right hand jab from the southpaw position. He’d tired Dubois down before that with his work rate.
‘Usyk would have beaten the count is the referee started counting, but the ref called it a low blow and told him to take his time. If you get offered a drop in golf, you take it, you play by the rules.’