Daniel Dubois could not replicate his Wembley moment against Oleksandr Usyk on July 19th.
His now-infamous knockout of Anthony Joshua in the National Stadium was shocking because of the confident destruction by a young fighter of a former unified world champion.
However, the Usyk loss has drawn criticism not necessarily for the in-ring performance but for a supposed pre-fight party which Johnny Nelson criticised as ‘reckless’.
Trainer Don Charles hit back at quitting claims from Tony Bellew, and he has also defended the gathering at the Dubois house before the clash with the Ukrainian because they had a successful gathering before the Joshua fight.
Daniel Dubois revealed details of pre-fight Anthony Joshua ‘party’ in February before Oleksandr Usyk loss
During an interview in February this year, ‘Dynamite’ revealed all on the party that gave him the energy to beat AJ on his most special night.
When he spoke to The High Performance podcast, he said: “(Was fear present) No, no. It wasn’t in the equation. My dad set the scene from back home, he had a little gathering at our house, and we built up a little energy and took that to the fight.
“We were playing the right music and that really inspired me and lifted me up, you can watch the ring walk and I was on point and where I needed to be mentally, it just set the scene and took the spirit with us.”
A party is an unusual way of preparing for the biggest fight of your career but the British fighter insisted it was needed to get mentally in the zone.
He laughed: “Yeah, we had a little party before the fight, a celebration. You’re going to war, sometimes you can’t just be all scared and like you are going to go to the gallows, you’ve got to lift your spirit up.”
While the most recent party had reportedly been attended by more people whom the boxer himself did not know personally, this one was closer to home.
“Loads of people were there, loads of my dad’s old friends, guys my dad knows. Just music, war chants on the way to the ring, and on the way to the fight, it was good,” he said.
Joseph Parker slammed Daniel Dubois for his ‘party’ before the Oleksandr Usyk brutal KO loss
While it may have worked for Joshua, it definitely didn’t work against the heavyweight great who knocked Dubois out in the fifth round.
When the news broke of the gathering that took place before the fight, WBO heavyweight mandatory Joseph Parker was furious with the risk taken by the former IBF champion.
He said: “That is insanely disruptive. I’m very surprised, I’m shocked. That many people over? You’re preparing for a massive fight.
“You need rest, you need to chill, you need to get in the zone, and he’s got this big party happening.”
Dubois is yet to publicly respond to any of the backlash surrounding his ‘party’ and an internal inquest will reportedly be held by Queensbury Promotions on the matter.