Daniel Dubois labelled ‘hardest hitting heavyweight’ in world boxing ahead of Bryan clash

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Up and coming British boxer Daniel Dubois has been given the tag of ‘hardest hitting heavyweight’ in the world by his sparring partner and cruiserweight world champion Lawrence Okolie.

Dubois has knocked out 16 of the 17 opponents he has beaten with only the extremely durable Kevin Johnson surviving to the final bell. ‘Triple D’ has always been noted for his punching power and is considered by most to be one of the country’s most devastating knockout artists. But Okolie has gone one step further in stating that Dubois is the ‘hardest hitting heavyweight’ from across the globe.

“I always say to Shane [McGuigan] that he’s probably the hardest punching of the lot. I think obviously there is more to boxing than just punching power, but it’s good to have,” he said during an interview with BT Sport.

Okolie, the now WBO cruiserweight champion has sparred with the likes of Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, and Dillian Whyte, so praise from ‘The Sauce’ comes from a knowledgeable place. In the same interview, Okolie, who is helping Dubois prepare for his WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight title fight against Trevor Bryan this weekend, noted the considerable evolutions in Dubois’ game.

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“He’s been really good, super confident, and I’ve noticed from his sparring and just overall thing that he’s putting a lot of energy out there, a lot of work, so he’s going to be good,” said Okolie in the same interview.

“He needs to be in extremely good shape and he’s looking fantastic.”

When asked about the recent increase in Dubois’ mobility, Okolie said: “I think it’s really good for him, a guy his size and natural punching power to speed it up makes him even more dangerous.”

Okolie went on to tell BT Sport cameras that he thinks Dubois will ‘hurt’ Bryan on Saturday and expects another level of his game to be shown. Dubois rose to fame early on in his career after allegedly dropping Anthony Joshua in an infamous sparring session back in 2017. Dubois was only 20 at the time and received a lot of praise from boxing writers for the feat.

One such writer, International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Colin Hart told BoxNation that he believed that Dubois was the hardest hitting heavyweight in British boxing history.

“The story as you know is that he [Dubois] did Joshua down in the gym and of course what’s in the gym, stays in the gym, but so many people have spoken about this since it suddenly became in the public domain and you know Joshua, who is an honest guy has never denied it,” said Hart back in 2017.

“If you get hit by someone like Dubois and I’m on record of saying he’s the hardest single punching heavyweight and that includes Lennox Lewis and Frank Bruno – for the single shot I mean. I know he’s not fought anybody yet and I hope he won’t fight anybody great for some time, it’s all learning, he’s got a long way to go he’s only 20 – but he can bang!”

Dubois faces Bryan on Saturday, June 11 for the lesser version of the WBA title in Miami. The fight is being shown live on BT Sport 1 with ring walks expected around 11pm UK time.

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