Born in Greenwich, London on September 6, 1997, Daniel Dubois was, as of June 1, 2024, IBF interim world heavyweight champion, following a eighth-round technical knockout of Croatian Filip Hrgovic at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, the IBF belt was subsequently by Ukranian Oleksandr Usyk, such that Dubois became the full champion. At the time of writing, he is scheduled to make his first defence of the IBF title against compatriot Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium on September 21, 2024.
A successful amateur, with a 12-6-0 record, including eight knockouts, Dubois opted to turn professional rather than compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. His professional debut, against Marcus Kelly at the Manchester Arena on April 8, 2017 lasted just 35 seconds, with his oppoent having already been knocked down before the fight was stopped. Thereafter, Dubois continued to progress through the ranks and, by the time he added the vacant Commonwealth Boxing Council and WBO international heavyweight titles to his BBBoC British heavyweight title – courtesy of a 2:10 technical knockout of Ghanaian Ebenezer at the Royal Albert Hall – on September 27, 2019, his professional record stood at 13-0-0.
Dubois suffered the first defeat of his professional career when, officially, knocked out by compatriot Joe Joyce at Church House, Westminster on November 28, 2020, with all his titles, plus the vacant EBU European heavyweight title, on the line. However, with his left eye swollen shut, he took a knee and allowed himself to be counted out during the tenth round. On June 11, 2022, Dubois won the WBA world heavyweight title with a fourth-round technical knockout of Trevor Bryan at Casino Miami Jai Alai in Florida, but suffered the second defeat of his professional career when suffering a ninth-round knockout, under controversial circumstances, by unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk at Stadion Wroclaw in Wroclaw, Poland on August 26, 2023.
