Daniel Dubois’ fearsome fists knocked out Anthony Joshua, and he bore the scars of a childhood spent training relentlessly to become a boxing star.
The 27-year-old from south London stunned Wembley Stadium on Saturday night when he retained his IBF heavyweight title by knocking out the crowd favourite in the fifth round.
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After beating two-time world champion Joshua, 34, Daniel looked up to his father Dave, who had made him the king of the ring through a rigorous training programme.
From the young age of five, Daniel, nicknamed Dynamite, was being trained at home to be a boxer.
And when he reached his teens, his routine was to do rigorous press-ups for three to five hours every day without food or water.
Keeping his hands on the floor for so long left permanent scars on them.
Daniel’s 63-year-old father Dave, real name Stan, said he made his son work hard to achieve fame in boxing.
He said: “I don’t give him food or water until he finishes his work. That’s why he is so powerful.”
“I just wanted to strengthen his mind because boxing is a tough sport. Not just anyone can do it.”
The Sun’s boxing correspondent, Wally Downes Jr., who witnessed Daniel’s knockout right hook from ringside during Saturday’s bout, said of the fighter’s reaction to winning: “Dubois’ celebration seemed subdued for a kid whose torturous training regime has left permanent scars on his shovel-like hands.
‘Very disciplined’
“But behind the scenes, he got to embrace his giant dad and we got a full look at this unconventional family issue that has derailed A.J.’s journey.”
Ahead of his fight with Joshua, 6ft 5in Don Charles, Daniel’s current trainer, spoke about how the young champion puts everything into his game.
He said: “He is very disciplined away from boxing. You never read that Daniel Dubois went to nightclubs, caused a ruckus, drank, smoked, did none of that.
“He eats well. His father prepares all the meals for him. It’s all home-cooked.”
“He comes from a very strict background. His father is very, very, very strict with him. Always with all his kids, not just Daniel, and this is a result of that. He’s a very disciplined guy.”
Daniel, who still lives at home, does not drink or party, and reportedly has little time for a girlfriend due to his determination to become a boxing icon.
He was warned in his childhood to stay away from the phone, after which he does not have internet on his mobile.
But he’s not the only Dubois who has been groomed for boxing success by Dave, a father of 11 children.
Ready for success in boxing
His daughter Caroline, 23, is regarded as one of the world’s best female boxers, while his two other sons, Prince, 20, and Solomon, 12, are also aiming for fame in the ring.
Dave took Caroline and Daniel for a run around his estate in Deptford, south London, every other day to keep them fit.
The police once intervened, as they feared the children were being forced to do so by their father.
Dave home-schooled both children, and he placed Caroline in mainstream education for a time, as he was warned that social services might visit them.
I didn’t get to go out on the street much, because dad kept me in the boxing ring from the age of eight. The training he gave me became very tough
Daniel DuBois
But none of Daniel’s siblings have yet performed like he did over the weekend.
Most of the record 96,000 crowd at Wembley were there to cheer on Anthony Joshua.
Very few commentators gave Daniel much of a chance of defeating his Olympic gold medal-winning opponent.
Dubois has previously lost in controversial circumstances to Britain’s Joe Joyce and Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk in major bouts.
In 2020, he was brutally labelled a “coward” by fellow heavyweight Dillian Whyte after he hinted he could no longer go ahead with a European title fight against Joyce.
It was later discovered that Daniel had a fractured eye bone and was having trouble seeing.
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Then, in August 2023, Usyk fell to the canvas in the fifth round of their world heavyweight bout. But the referee ruled that Daniel had landed an illegal “low blow.”
Usyk won, although at one point the British boxer fell to his knees, unable to withstand further blows.
Since then, Daniel has come back stronger than ever.
He became the interim International Boxing Federation (IBF) heavyweight champion after defeating Croatian Filip Hrgović in June.
Usyk’s decision to continue with a rematch against Tyson Fury rather than face Daniels again meant the belt was handed to Dubois.
Afterwards, Daniel revealed that his father had said, “You’re going to be a world champion,” and added: “It’s all done now, isn’t it?”
As Dave told it, he had a divine vision that Daniel would win boxing’s biggest crown.
He said: “When I was young I had a lot of dreams and I always followed them.
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“I had an idea that I should have some kids and get them involved in boxing, so that’s what I did.
“It felt like God had blessed me. Everything I touched turned to gold.”
Dave, a single parent, used to sell posters at markets in London.
His fascination with boxing also rubbed off on Daniel, his eldest son from his former second wife.
“My dad used to tell me stories about world heavyweight champions,” the boxer said.
“One day, they showed me a video of a fight between Lennox Lewis and Frank Bruno. That fight made me realise I wanted to be a world champion.”
Dave started taking his son to the boxing gym when he was eight years old.
This kept him out of trouble.
Daniel said: “I didn’t see much of the road because from the age of eight dad had me in the boxing ring. The training he put me through was tough, incredibly tough.
“But my father knew what the reward would be. I never once thought of walking away. I dedicated myself completely.”
The youngster also took up sprinting and swimming, but it was clear his talents were better suited to punching.
He trained at the famous Peacock and Repton boxing clubs in East London.
But it seems his single-minded father often clashed with the coaching staff there.
Daniel once said: “We had to change gyms frequently because the coaches couldn’t keep up with my father.”
My dad knew what the reward could be. I never once thought of going away
Daniel DuBois
Initially, the future world champion won some schoolboy titles and joined Team GB in Sheffield, with the aim of representing his country at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
But his father convinced him to turn professional instead of continuing as an amateur in the Olympic set-up.
At the age of 17 he was rumoured to have knocked out A.J. while training in Sheffield, although Daniel has never confirmed this.
In 2017, Daniel signed with promoter Frank Warren and knocked out his first opponent, Marcus “Caveman” Kelly, in 35 seconds in a professional bout.
From then on, he won one fight after another, using his intense punches to defeat opponents.
Until this weekend, however, he wasn’t a household name — and that’s because he’s far from the showy boxer he usually is.
He doesn’t boast about his victories or dance around in the ring.
Even when he beat Joshua, he stood calmly on the canvas while chaos ensued.
Before Charles, she was trained by Martin Bowers and Shane McGuigan. Shane, who is the son of Irish boxer Barry, was also training Caroline.
However, Caroline, a Team GB gold medallist at the 2018 Youth Olympics, is no longer part of the Dubois family due to a family rift.
Instead, she is being trained by Shane and has moved away from her Hertfordshire family home. What was the reason behind the differences is unclear.
Read more at The Scottish Sun
Daniel, meanwhile, has no regrets about sticking to his father’s disciplinary approach – he even moved away from the world to train for the fight with Joshua.
The title-winner, sometimes known as Triple D for Daniel Dynamite Dubois, said: “It’s like jail, I’m just working hard. I’ll have all the fun later. I have plenty of time for that.”
