HERO LIKE LENNOX AND BRUNO
Warren believes he will reach the top and BT Sport are investing in him, bringing more expectation.
“I feel there is pressure but I need that pressure to get up every day and do it,” said Dubois. “I need to be having a bit of fear and that sort of drive behind me.
“It doesn’t bother me. I’m not the sort of person who will curl up in a ball and try to hide. Do I get nervous? No. I come alive when I’m in the dressing room before a fight.
“I think about what I want to do in the ring and the damage I want to cause and how I’m going to do that. Like breathing, eating and sleeping is for everyone else, fighting is like that for me.” Dubois claims he has not felt much different being in the world of the hotel boxing bubble this week. He said: “I don’t think I have any normal days. Can you call any of this normal? Since I started boxing it’s been fighting, thinking about fighting, training, sparring. That’s not really normal is it?” The life of superstardom will not be normal either if he reaches the heights those who know a thing about boxing believe he will.
For now his biggest purchase has been a new family home where he lives with his siblings. But there may need to be a big garage extension one day.
“My aim is to live the nice lifestyle but to get there the work needs to be done,” he added.
“I’ve got about 10 or 20 cars in mind though. Maybe a Ferrari, maybe a Lamborghini, a Rolls Royce. Imagine me showing up to the gym in a Rolls Royce going, ‘Look at me now’.”
■ Dubois v Snijders is live on BT Sport from 7pm
THIS might be the making of Dillian Whyte. Though his pulverising loss to Alexander Povetkin might have felt like a disaster, it has created a huge buzz about him and the heavyweight division.
And depending on how he responds, it could push him to the front of the queue after standing in line for a title shot for more than a thousand days.
People love a knockout, and a comeback. Whyte (above) was the victim of a perfect storm – a brilliant shot that proved what I have always said, turn over 220lb at speed and, even if the opponent is made of concrete, he is going over.
No fighter in the world would have taken that shot. Don’t forget the man who threw it won Olympic gold as an amateur in 2004, and only Wladimir Klitschko and Anthony Joshua have beaten him.
We are talking about a retro heavyweight here, a 1960s-70s throwback to the 16st stylist.
Povetkin was outweighed by two stone, but 220lb is always enough in the right hands, even against today’s 18st-plus behemoths.
The irony is Whyte was performing so well, giving one of the most accomplished performances of his career.
He wasn’t reckless. He fought with an educated jab and put his punches together well for four rounds. He had Povetkin over twice.
It just shows if you switch off for a second it’s over at this level. Povetkin’s corner were on the point of pulling him out. He came out for the fifth needing something and tried to push Whyte back.
What a sequence it was. Jab, rapid weight transfer to the left, dip, bang, over and out. The jab was the key forcing Whyte’s hands to come forward, creating the space for the uppercut.
Let’s see how the psychology plays out. It might not affect Whyte at all.
A knockout does not seem to be as damaging to the big boys as it is for those in the lighter weights.
Some are scarred but I have seen plenty of heavies knocked out and come back in the next fight like it never happened.
People like to see knockouts. There will be excitement about the rematch, a fascination to see if Whyte can exact revenge.
It won’t be easy. There is plenty of jeopardy, but Whyte will be encouraged by the work he did.
He just has to finish the job.