History Beckons

REGULAR READERS OF this column over the years will have seen me continually bang on about the value of ‘experience’, the stuff money can’t buy. To my mind, the experience Daniel Dubois gained in Poland, first time around against Oleksandr Usyk, has resulted in him coming on leaps and bounds ahead of this Saturday’s blockbuster sequel at Wembley Stadium.

Daniel did fizzle out following the fifth round controversy - that I won’t go on about anymore… - and he allowed himself to become mentally drained, which culminated in the ninth round stoppage.

He is a different man now, the key word being man. Daniel has grown up so much and taken so much from the adversity he suffered in Wroclaw. As a team we had a good powwow after the event and Daniel now accepts that matters are very much in his huge hands at all times, good or bad.

He cannot let external influences, like decisions made by officials in fights, affect him. He can overcome these things with his power and natural ability, which has been honed since boyhood.

Daniel went on to prove his metal against an intimidating character in Jarrell Miller, who was unbeaten at the time and always has plenty to say for himself. It was in the early stages of this fight that I made the split second decision to increase the influence of his father during the action.

I brought him closer, within earshot, so that Daniel could hear the voice that resonates with him the most. And it worked.

It isn’t rocket science, Stan has been the biggest driving force in his son’s boxing journey, almost from the toddler stage, and Daniel respects his father’s wisdom.

Since then we have seen to it that Stan is an official fixture in the corner and the results against Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua suggest it was not a shabby move, by any means.

Saturday, with over 90,000 people packed into our national stadium, is set to be one of those ‘I was there’ moments in time.

Whichever way you cut it, history is being made on this very special occasion. I am thrilled to be staging the first undisputed heavyweight championship fight ever to be staged in this country.

I will be a very proud old boy on the night, especially if Daniel does the business, as I am highly confident he will.

Daniel officially teamed up with us in 2017 and we started him from scratch. Our intake from that year and right at the end of 2016 makes good reading now.

Ryan Garner (European champion), Nick Ball (World champion, albeit he joined us a few fights in), Hamzah Sheeraz (former European champion, world title challenger and now light heavyweight contender) and Daniel. So it is not a bad list and a good advert for our Academy or development system.

The 2019 crop aren’t doing bad either, with names like Sam Noakes, Henry Turner, Dennis McCann, David Adeleye and Mark Chamberlain featuring on this list.

It is incredibly satisfying to take someone right from the start and see them make it big in the sport, setting themselves up and providing for the future.

Daniel’s future will be a glittering one if he can become Undisputed King on Saturday at a stadium he made his own back in September.

Will we witness a Coronation? Be there or tune into DAZN to find out.

MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS TO Hamzah Sheeraz for his devastating destruction of Edgar Berlanga in New York last weekend.

Berlanga certainly talked the talk, but couldn’t match Hamzah’s walk on the night at the Louis Armstrong Stadium, where our man served up a few volleys of punches and finished him off with a smash.

It is no secret that Hamzah, along with ourselves and the rest of his team, would love the Canelo fight for him and there is more than a possibility that it could happen. So much will depend on the outcome of the Canelo-Crawford shootout on September 13 and we will be keeping a close eye on that one.

I think Hamzah proved, beyond reasonable doubt, that his sluggish performance against Carlos Adames last time out was not a reflection on his ability, but a strong indication that his time was up at middleweight.

He didn’t manage to grab a world title at 160lbs, but don’t bet against him doing just that at super middle.