Meet the British fighter trying to cause the upset of the decade and the Ukrainian champion eager to put on a show as a national hero for a war-torn society.
Daniel Dubois, 25, will walk out into the Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, Poland, to the most intense atmosphere of his young fighting career and it will be the greatest challenge of his life when he steps through the ropes.
But pressure makes diamonds and the young Brit is showing no signs of nerves, at least not when he stepped in front of the camera to spend an afternoon with Mail Sport.
Conversely, there remains a glint in the eye of Usyk, who was in playful mood in front of the camera despite the obvious pressures that come with putting his WBA, IBF, WBO and Ring Magazine heavyweight titles on the line tonight.
Mail Sport’s KEVIN QUIGLEY got to shoot the pair this week in an exclusive photoshoot…
Daniel Dubois draped the Great Britain flag over his shoulders as he looks to fly the flag for British boxing over in Poland for a clash he is seen as a major outsider for against one of the finest boxers in his generation in Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk
Usyk throws a left jab towards photographer Kevin Quigley as he gets into the spirit of the shoot ahead of Saturday’s bout
Anything you can do, I can do better! Dubois shows off his right-hand counter punch and he will look to use that effectively on fight night in a bid to pull off what many in the boxing cognoscenti believe would be the upset of the decade
Usyk is putting his WBA, IBF, WBO and Ring Magazine heavyweight titles on the line, putting a unification bout at real risk
Dubois is not concerned about walking into an overwhelming atmosphere: ‘I will shut them out. I will have tunnel vision in the ring. I will be focused solely on ripping all those belts from him. They are not going to stop me achieving my dream’
Many expected Usyk to agree to a unification bout with Tyson Fury, only for negotiations to stall, but he is not allowing himself to take his eyes off the prize in Wroclaw, as he showed with a menacing stare down the lens of our photographer’s camera!
Saturday night will be the biggest night of Dubois’, 25, life, and he should take plenty of heart from the adversity he has faced to get here, from being forced to retire with an eye socket shattered by Joe Joyce , followed by the injuring of a knee as he was knocked down three times in the first round by Kevin Lerena before recovering to stop the South African fighter last year
Usyk is a natural cruiserweight but he has worked incredibly hard to step up to the physique of a heavyweight, not limited to having seven-pound bowls of food as his remarkable transformation is there for all to see under the yellow and black light
Dubois is determined not to go to Poland just to be a whipping boy for Usyk ahead of a unification bout and having changed trainers to team up with Don Charles, the Brit, hands on hips, has envisioned causing one of the shocks of all shocks tonight
There will be plenty of Ukrainians packed inside the stadium to show support for Usyk on Saturday night and he will be eager to put on a show for them as they still feel the sorrow that has come from Russia’s invasion of their nation
Usyk v Dubois for the WBA, IBF, WBO and Ring Magazine heavyweight titles is live tonight on TNT Sports Box Office