Daniel Dubois, the most dangerous prospect in boxing’s big league, capable of being ‘that heavyweight’

There was a now familiar confused look on Kyotaro Fujimoto’s face as he prowled the ring in the moments before the first bell and a fight he had suddenly realised he had absolutely no chance of winning.

Long before Daniel Dubois connected with the sweetest, most disturbing right hand to send Fujimoto fluently to the canvas with a nasty little twist of his body as he slumped and came to rest in a still heap, the fight was over; Fujimoto had signed for a fair fight, travelled from Japan, played his role all week, a fun figure with scarlet hair and then on fight night the shock hit him – he had no chance. The punches came a few minutes later.

Dubois is now unbeaten in 14, with 13 ending early and Fujimoto is not the first man to be violently separated from his senses and sent tumbling, crashing to the canvas, often leaving the men with a look of horror on their faces. It seems like the opponents sense their end before the first bell, realise that the Dubois menace is real and that it is too late. Dubois betrays so little in press conferences, interviews, weigh-ins and head-to-head meetings that he somehow disarms his opponents with his silence.

It is not excessive to claim that the 22-year-old is the most dangerous prospect in heavyweight boxing right now – he might not have the best set of pure boxing skills, he is still a long, long way from proving he can fight for more than a round or two and he has not had to survive a rough moment – but his power, even against men he is expected to knock over, is truly exceptional. It is raw power at first glance, something to stand and holler about from the cheap seats, but up close or in slow motion, there is a lot of art and guile in what young Daniel does.

Late on Saturday night, deep in the psychedelic mayhem of the Copper Box interior, Dubois slightly altered the trajectory of the final right that put his man to sleep, tipped it just a half-inch clear of Fujimoto’s arm and that meant it connected clean. Nature or nurture from Dubois in that tiny fragment of punching time? Who cares, he just does it and the very best do the same type of thing. There is an old boxing saying and it goes something like this: “He’s so good, he doesn’t even know what he’s doing.” Dubois is both a natural and a great learner, a shift-changer from fight-to-fight, capable of instantly repeating what he is told. He is an avid student, a scholar of the masters, both old and new.

Frank Bruno left men equally battered, reeling from his big-arm punches, unable to guard against his thunderous and often ponderous jab, which glided though any flimsy guards. Dubois moves better than Bruno and will probably respond to adversity with more instinct than our beloved Frank did. Bruno was all about guts, commitment and desire and we will get a chance to measure the same trinity in Dubois over the next twelve months. Dubois and Bruno are close friends.

Dubois has a world ranking at heavyweight now, tucked inside the top fifteen, but so did the untested Fujimoto, a preposterous holder of the WBA’s number 13 slot. Dubois right now should defy the simple manipulation of numbers from the tarnished sanctioning bodies and concentrate on becoming “that heavyweight.” Now that is a title worth having and he has the fists to make that possible.

Here is an early Christmas present for you: All ratings are bogus, compiled by men and women at the conventions held each year - always somewhere exotic - by the sanctioning bodies. The top fifteen in all weight divisions are put together by people with agendas, they have fighters they want ranked higher and placed at three or four. There is no science or rule to the rankings and that is because the business of boxing is not and will never be a measurable sport. The ratings are the result of a lively session of flesh trading. That’s my gift to you this year and Dubois could step above that tainted line – heavyweights can do that.

However, the plan is to make Dubois the mandatory challenger for one of the four recognised sanctioning bodies by this time next year and then force the champion to fight his mandatory. It would mean Dubois fighting for the heavyweight championship of the world by about May 2021; Dubois would still only be 23 and with under 20 fights. It is some plan, as outrageous as it is possible.

Dubois will be back in the ring in April at the 02, which he can walk to from his home in Greenwich, and it will be a “big fight”, according to Frank Warren, the promoter shaping Dubois, building another heavyweight from a life of making fighters from scratch; Warren does it the only way possible with a heavyweight: slowly and with great care. It is the only way, especially with one so young. There is a desperate need here for a Yoda quote, but I will resist.

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Dubois also has some natural British opponents, a mix of old, young, real tests, untested and the dangerous. Joe Joyce, the silver medal winner from the Rio Olympics, was ringside to watch the latest one-punch finish. He fights for the European heavyweight title in January in Germany and could be on the April shortlist. “Why not? Let’s make it happen,” Warren said to Sam Jones, Joyce’s agent, late on Saturday night. It would be a remarkable fight, the type of fight that shapes a career – the type of fight Dubois will one day have.