“It’s just one of those things,” he says before pausing to find the right words. “It's like a relationship ending, and you know how you feel when you end a relationship?

“But I'm looking to get my girlfriend back. You make some mistakes and the relationship doesn't work out and then you've got to start again.”

For Dubois, that break-up happened under the stars at Wembley Stadium on July 19 at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch of their 2023 clash. As far as second dates go, this was about as bad as it gets.

Usyk, who held The Ring, WBO, WBA and WBC titles that night, reclaimed the IBF strap via a fifth-round knockout of Dubois to cap what was his most destructive performance at heavyweight yet. For the 28-year-old Dubois it was a miserable trudge back to the dressing room inside the national stadium.

Soon after, the inquest began. He quickly left trainer Don Charles to try something new with Tony Sims while suggestions that a pre-fight party had taken his eye off the ball were quickly batted away.

But for Dubois, who suffered the third stoppage loss of his career that night, there was no soul-searching required. When asked what he did to shake off the Usyk loss he said: “Nothing really.

“I think I fought against the best fighter of a generation, so I'm not really down or nothing, I’m just thinking about how we move forward and about a lot of personal things. I've got to go back to the drawing board and come again. I feel like we’re going to get it right this time though, with the training and how everything is going to be perfect, I just have a feeling.

“It’s just a process and, to be honest, I was straight back on it and looking to line up who’s next, watching the heavyweight division and seeing who’s going to be next and I'm glad I've got this opportunity.”

As it happened, a day before Valentine's Day, it was confirmed that Dubois would get an immediate chance to rekindle his relationship with the world heavyweight title via a shot at Fabio Wardley. The pair meet for Wardley’s WBO belt in Manchester on Saturday night.

“I was elated when I heard the news,” Dubois added. “This is my chance from God, he’s given me this opportunity and I can’t let myself down or my team down and this is the time to dig deeper than ever before.

“I feel like the luckiest guy in boxing. It’s just one after the other, and I've been grateful to my promoter Frank Warren, my dad, and the support network I have around me for maneuvering me to keep my spirits high so that we can come again.”

Like Usyk, the defending champion is undefeated but that is where the comparisons stop. The Ukrainian is a master southpaw technician, who honed his craft during years as an elite amateur while former white collar puncher Wardley learned it all on the job.

“Listen, Usyk is a great southpaw, great champion and Fabio is nothing like him,” Dubois said.

“Usyk is southpaw whereas I'm going to have answers for Fabio. He might try southpaw in the fight but I'm experienced now I've faced Usyk twice, I've faced Anthony Joshua, I've faced all these great fighters, I've got that experience on my side. I love fighting punchers and guys that are like that. Bring it on.”

Although Dubois has faced the likes of Usyk, Joshua and Filip Hrgovic over the course of his 25-fight career, there is an argument that Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KOs) is the most devastating puncher he will have encountered.

The Ipswich man’s last 19 victories have come via knockout, a run which stretches back to his debut, which ended in a four-round points win over Jakub Wojcik at York Hall, Bethnall Green on April 8, 2017. On the very same night, at Manchester Arena, Dubois also made his professional bow, despatching the horribly overmatched Marcus "Caveman" Kelly in just 35 seconds.

There were very few people outside of Ipswich who knew anything about Wardley at that point but Dubois had already been hailed as a future world champion by his promoter Frank Warren. Now a little over nine years later, the pair will finally meet but it is Wardley who arrives with the belt.

“He’s been lucky up until now,” Dubois says. “He’s been lucky. I'm going to be the man to take his O. I've done it to people before and I'm going to do it again.

”He’s pulled it out of the bag in certain fights and he’s unorthodox so a lot of fighters out there are not used to that so they do things just out of reactions. It’s different for me and I'm going to be ready for him on fight night.

“I will just work off the jab, pumping that jab and getting into the rhythm. I'm going to have all the answers. Everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in their mouth.

“I'm looking forward to putting that on him and bringing the hurt, bringing the pain.”