FRANK WARREN DELIBERATELY threw Daniel Dubois into the fire against Jarrell Miller in December 2023 for two reasons.
First: the big American is physically tough.
Second: Warren knew Miller would get personal with the trash talk and chip away at Dubois’ mind whenever he could.
“I knew Miller would try and do all he can to intimidate him outside the ring,” Warren told media ahead of Dubois’ fight against Oleksandr Usyk in London on Saturday.
“I just wanted to get him to toughen up mentally.”
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The veteran promoter needed to know what his charge was capable of. He had been accused of quitting in defeats to Joe Joyce in 2022 and against Usyk in their first clash in 2023.
Warren wanted to know if he was a fighter or a runner.
Dubois kept looking into the crowd while on his stool between rounds. Warren, watching from ringside in Saudi Arabia, noticed he was looking for his dad, Dave (also known as Stanley).
“I went and pulled him [Dave] out the crowd,” Warren said. “Don [Charles] was talking to [Daniel] and Don’s a good trainer; Don does everything spot on. But my thing in that moment was: That’s the voice he listens to.”
Sitting alongside each other talking to media ahead of another huge Wembley occasion, Warren and Dubois discuss the pivotal moment.
“From a young age… He’s more than a father for you, isn’t he? That’s the voice that you hear,” Warren says. “So we’re shouting at your dad: ‘double the jab, throw the right hand’ and that was how it was. And he’s been in the corner since, hasn’t he?”
Daniel agrees with a beaming smile.
“If you can’t do it for your dad, who can you do it for?” he says.
Dubois won via knockout with 10 seconds remaining in the fight, which was as brutal and gruelling as expected.
It changed his career forever.
Even if they didn’t know it then, Dave proved the turning point and his influence on the 27-year-old cannot be overstated. The two have an exceptionally close relationship.
His father is also Daniel’s guiding voice outside the ring as much as it was against Miller that night in 2023 and continues to be in it.
After beating Miller in dramatic fashion, Dubois went on to face Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua, winning both fights by knockout. A remarkable run of 3 wins in 10 months; unprecedented for a modern heavyweight.
IT WAS DAVE who linked Dubois with Charles before the first fight against Usyk in Poland. Despite losing via knockout, the relationship has flourished.
“I was out in the wilderness, seriously,” Charles says. “I say it privately, I say it publicly, I owe his father and [Daniel]. They brought me from the wilderness. It’s all meant to be.
“It’s almost unreal that we are revisiting Wembley again. He’s going to repeat it again.”
Charles is a believer in the powers of the universe and destiny, which he says led him to Dubois and his father.
“It’s all about destiny. I wasn’t there in the beginning of his professional career, but as the path goes, he [Dave] said he dreamt it.
“He had a dream and everything he’s told me to be fair, has happen in front of him.”
Warren quips: “Does he know what’s going to win the 2.30 at Kempton [races] tomorrow.”
THE FIGHT AGAINST Usyk isn’t just about fulfilling Dubois’ destiny, but revenge, his team feels, for the first fight.
Charles maintains Usyk cheated in Poland by milking a body shot from Dubois which was deemed low and illegal. Usyk was allowed just under four minutes to recover from the punch. It continues to divide opinion.
“You conned us. You conned the referee. You conned the boxing world,” Charles proclaimed at the first news conference for the rematch in April.
“God has summoned you to come back here for our son here Daniel Dubois to get revenge on you.
“You [Usyk] go down as one of the generational greats… But thy shall not cheat.”
Usyk and his team maintain it was an illegal shot.
Whatever you think of the punch, it’s in the past. The intrigue surrounds the future and Dubois’ date with destiny.
