Inside Daniel Dubois’ brutal childhood training regime: From his father who refused to feed him if he hadn’t finished working out to breaking a world record aged five

Daniel Dubois takes on Anthony Joshua in an all-Brit heavyweight showdown at Wembley on Saturday night.

The 27-year-old will look to defend his IBF heavyweight title in front of a 96,000 crowd in the England capital in what will mark a shared family dream for Dubois and his father.

Dubois’ rise to boxing stardom is no coincidence, as his father Dave had already masterminded his son’s legacy before he was even born.

The rigorous training regime began as soon as the IBF heavyweight champion could walk and talk.

Speaking in a lengthy interview with The Sunday Times, Daniel alongside his father Dave, revealed the brutal yet enjoyable training program he had been put on as a child which included laps around their council estate and never ending push-ups which left visible scars.

The blockbuster fight will take place at Wembley Stadium in front of 96,000 fans 

Dubois (left) has been training since he was five years old with his dad Dave Dubois (right)

The workouts began when he was about five years old with his father running a disciplined ship. 

‘My dad put a lot of work into me, so I got the full brunt of the force. He’s not crazy strict, he’s just disciplined,’ he told The Sunday Times.

Although the family was living in a council estate during Daniel’s upbringing, it didn’t stop Dave from implementing a tough training regime.

The dad of eleven, including Caroline Dubois – the interim WBC women’s lightweight champion – managed to get very inventive when it came to ensuring his son reached his peak both mentally and physically.

Speaking to The Times, Dave revealed that sometimes he wouldn’t feed Daniel until he had completed his workout.  

‘I wouldn’t give him food or water until he’d finished.

‘That’s why he’s so powerful. I just wanted to strengthen his mind because boxing is a hard sport. Not anyone can do it. I did that for years with him in the mornings.’ 

The minute Dubois could walk and talk his dad started training him inside the boxing ring

Daniel had to follow a brutal training regime which included laps around their council estate and never ending push-ups which left visible scars

Dave would even have his children run endless laps around their housing estate as part of his plan to create champion boxers.

On one occasion the police even intervened believing that the kids were being forced to run against their will.

Just two years later, following his son’s exponential development as a boxer, Dave took him to the acclaimed Peacock Gym in Canning Town, which also saw boxing greats such as Lennox Lewis and Frank Bruno train there.

From there, the training only intensified, speaking to The Guardian back in 2020 Dave revealed ‘when Daniel was young we used to do off-the-wall training. Aged 10 he could do push-ups for hours at a time.’

However that wasn’t the first time Daniel was exposed to push-ups as he had already been doing them since he was five.

He even revealed to the BBC back in 2020 that he broke the world record for the most consecutive push-ups done by a five-year-old. 

When he was five years old he broke the world record for the most consecutive push-ups completed by a child at that age

Other workouts Daniel did when he was younger included off-the-wall training

‘When I was five, I was doing push-ups everyday. At home I was probably doing five hours non-stop push-ups.

‘I set a world record for the amount of push-ups I did. I can’t remember the amount but countless.’

The early and brutal training at a young age has clearly aided Dubois massively in his bid to become a champion boxer.

And he will be hoping all of it won’t be for nothing when he takes on Joshua at Wembley on Saturday night.

Joshua won’t be an easy opponent however and many are favouring the 34-year-old to win against Dubois as he hopes to become a three-time champion.