'My dad's prepared me for this since I was about seven'

British heavyweight Daniel Dubois tells Alex Pattle about fighting Usyk twice’ in one night, his hunger to take Filip Hrgovic apart’, and a potential clash with Anthony Joshua

- Alex Pattle

They say you can tell a lot about someone by their handshake.
But in Daniel Dubois's case, it is more of a decoy.

From how gently he greets me, I reason he harbours a very real concern that he’d grind my bones to fine dust, if only he were to apply a little more pressure. So I’ll take the polite, cautious hint of a grip that he offers in a brief break from hopping and shadow-boxing.

Contrary to what his handshake would suggest, those hulking fists – those blunt objects – have done plenty of bludgeoning in the British heavyweight’s young career. “I don’t like to take too much pleasure in it, but I do enjoy it,” Dubois says, when asked whether he has actively savoured knocking out 19 of the 22 professionals who have shared a ring with him.

“For me now, it’s just business. This is what I do, I want to be the best at it. I love this sport, but it could go either way, this isn’t a scripted thing; you have to write your own script.”

The 26-year-old is speaking at his gym in West Finchley, north London, sat in a chair in the middle of one of two rings. The knuckles on Dubois’s right hand are calloused, and he occasionally thuds them into the palm of his left hand to accentuate a point. His words are intermittently interrupted by the screech of a whistle, signalling the start and end of sparring rounds in the next ring over.

“Many things make up a heavy hitter, starting from who your parents are,” explains Dubois, aptly nicknamed “Dynamite”, delving into the source of so much of his success so far. “My dad wanted to be a boxer, he was serious about it, he had a plan and gave the vision to me.