Trainer Shane McGuigan flies out with his heavyweight contender Daniel Dubois today, hoping to return from Florida with a piece of the heavyweight jigsaw puzzle.

Dubois takes on WBA beltholder Trevor Bryan on a Don King show on June 6 in Florida and McGuigan wants his fighter to demonstrate what they’ve been working on since joining forces.  

“I hope we get a chance to showcase it,” said Shane. “He’s been in the gym for a year now. We had two fights back-to-back, early June and then the end of August, and then we’ve had a 10-month break where he’s been working away and he’s been in the gym pretty much the last 10 months, which is fantastic for his progression and for us to be able to work on things and try things out.”

McGuigan doesn’t want to sound overconfident, even though he has faith in the heavy-hitting Londoner, but a concern is that Bryan doesn’t stand up to Dubois’ heavy artillery and folds before Dubois can show what he’s been learning.

“I think he [Dubois] has really progressed and I hope we get the chance to show that because if he blitzes him early, people won’t see the difference, but at some point it will be unveiled and I can’t wait for it to be showcased,” McGuigan explained.

Dubois has been sat in his mandatory position for a while and oddsmakers make the challenger the favorite to win. So too, does Shane.

Of the champion, McGuigan said, “I think he’s got a sparring mentality. He’s quite relaxed. You can see he’s been in the gym for years. He hasn’t had any big tests. He’s been in with Stiverne and Stiverne was well past it but he’s hung around that Heavyweight Factory gym for a long time with Shannon Briggs, Evander Holyfield and all the good heavyweights have gone out there, so he’ll be no mug, for sure. But I think youth and athleticism will be a big tell in this fight – and punching power. Trevor looks like he’s got reasonably heavy hands but he’s quite lazy with it, I think he gives shots away and I don’t think you can give shots away with Dan Dubois.”

While McGuigan has just had two fights with Dubois, some contend that the psychological scars from the only loss of Dubois’ career – to Joe Joyce – will run deep, but McGuigan reckons Dubois will be unfazed by it in future fights.

“That could have been a crushing defeat but I don’t think it’s sat on him,” said the coach, who has worked with the likes of Carl Frampton, Josh Taylor, George Groves and David Haye. “He is not gunshy. He wasn’t stopped by a punch, he was stopped by swelling but that can make you hesitate and overanalyze and hurt your confidence, especially for someone like him who flew through the division, [but] it hasn’t taken him out of his stride at all. He’s still ruthless and believes he can knockout anyone out, which you have to have if you’re a heavyweight.”

It is the first Don King show McGuigan has been a part of in his 12 years as a coach, and he doesn’t mind travelling, and he’s sure Florida will be just fine for his fighter, too. 

“I don’t think it really matters where we’re fighting with Daniel,” McGuigan continued. “He’s one of these guys who goes in and gets the job done. We were in Ohio in the last one, Telford in the one before that, so he’s dragged me to weird places but it’s all part of the journey.”

Dubois’ punching power will make him a favorite against most of the men he meets, but McGuigan has noted a mental improvement to Dubois’ game, and perhaps one that’s been helped by being part of a stable of champions, including one current world champion in cruiserweight Lawrence Okolie.

“I think he feels mature now,” Shane said of the changes in Dubois since Joyce. “I think he feels he’s ready for those big fights. I’m sure he was confident going in to that fight but the way the fight panned out he had a fractured orbital and a bleed in the retina, so it was a big injury and that could have been a career-defining injury. He’s a couple of years on from that now. He’s changed coaches, he’s in a gym that has had world champions in it, that has produced unified world champions so I think maybe from a confidence standpoint he has the confidence that he’s doing the right thing.” 

While Dubois is known for his heavy-hitting, his battering jab and stoic expression, McGuigan sees far more gifts that could make Dubois a major player in the division.

“Dan is the favorite and I think he’s the favorite to knock him [Bryan] out quite early but that’s a little but disrespectful towards Trevor Bryan,” Shane surmised. “He’s beat everyone in front of him, he hasn’t had the marque fights, he’s kind of an unknown name, none of the UK fighters have boxed him, and that can sometimes be a hindrance because if someone’s not been tested you don’t know how good they are. I think there’s not many people in the world right now that are going to be able to beat Dan Dubois, if any. He’s still very much a work in progression but he has everything that you need to become an elite fighter; balance, punch power, reflexes and some things he hasn’t shown yet and I think in time he’s going to be the guy to beat.”