A naive and bewildered Daniel Dubois turned to his father for support when asked to share his dreams and aspirations.

The teenager was giving his first interview to Queensberry Promotions after joining Frank Warren’s stable.

Dubois’ timid demeanour conflicted with his imposing 6ft 4in muscular figure.

He was the home-schooled introvert who could complete five hours of push-ups a day from the age of five – and there was little time for friendship or socialising.

So when Dubois hurtled into the limelight of pro boxing aged 19, it was very much a case of boy meets world.

Seven years later, though, Dubois has transformed from a sheepish, sometimes voiceless, character to a fighter demanding respect.

“You don’t intimidate me. Who do you think you are?” he barked at Anthony Joshua during a behind-doors face-off.

On Saturday, in front of a post-war British boxing record crowd of 96,000, Dubois continues his boxing journey in a world-title defence against compatriot Joshua at Wembley Stadium.

“I always thought he’d be a future champion, but I’ve really seen him change from that shrinking violet who first stepped into my office,” Warren reflects.

BBC Sport speaks to members of the boxing fraternity with first-hand accounts of Dubois’ ascent from a shy prospect to the peak of the heavyweight division.

Dubois is a graduate of the literal school of hard knocks.

His father, a market trader from Camden, drilled boxing training into him and sister Caroline, the undefeated lightweight star, in their formative years.

“I was their system. I was their school teacher. I was their leader,” Stan Dubois – who also goes by the name Dave – told Seconds Out in a rare interview.

Stan was hell-bent on fast-tracking his son’s progression as he hopped between several London amateur clubs, with stints at Repton, Dale Youth, Lynn, West Ham, Fisher and Islington.

Dubois Sr’s ruthlessness, however, was not without its critics.

“Daniel was a genuine boy. He tried hard and listened a lot, although he used to listen to his dad a lot as well,” says former Dale Youth head coach Mick Delaney.

Delaney recalls Stan taking a 16-year-old Dubois to spar with professional Derek Chisora, 14 years his senior, instead of a pre-planned sparring session.

“I said ‘this is a joke, you’re just a kid, those pros will be putting it on you’,” Delaney added.

“We got that sorted and I also told the dad if he insists on coming to the gym then he has to sit in the back.”

But just as Delaney was preparing Dubois for a senior championships, he received a call from Dubois’ mother saying her son had switched gyms.

While reports of acrimony with trainers have continued into his professional career, Dubois split with Shane McGuigan last year.

Stan’s ability to motivate his son, when some others cannot, still forms a big part of his success today.

In Don Charles, Dubois appears to have found a head trainer willing to accommodate – and even welcome – his father’s influence.

With Dubois under the cosh in the fourth round of his battle with Jarrell Miller in December, Warren summoned Stan.

“I have never done anything like that before,” Warren says. “The dad basically relayed Don’s instructions and, suddenly, Daniel was up and running.

“Don is an excellent trainer but also very pragmatic and understood. That’s the voice Daniel listens to, so it was just common sense to channel everything through the dad.”

When in June he beat Filip Hrgovic to win the interim IBF title, Dubois mouthed “we did it, Dad”.

Charles has not been seen at fight week, leading to rumours of a rift, but Dubois insists he is still part of his team.

Dubois’ boxing prowess has been clear from a young age.

As part of the England amateur set-up, he was sparring with the likes of Joshua, Joe Joyce and Frazer Clarke.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Clarke says. “His punch power for a kid who was about 17 was phenomenal.”

A scintillating start to his pro career yielded 14 stoppages in 15 fights. Dubois was heralded as the future of the division.

But he soon experienced the fickleness of pro pugilism in a significant step-up.

Dubois suffered a broken eye socket during his loss to Joe Joyce in 2020, having taken a knee and missed the count.

“People called him a coward and quitter, and that just wasn’t true,” Warren says.

Dubois faced the same criticism when he was stopped by Oleksandr Usyk in his first world title challenge last year.

But Dubois is not overly active on social media and was to some extent shielded from the negativity, and the shift from praise to condemnation also means the burden and pressure of being Britain’s next heavyweight hope had eased.

Warren asked Dubois to “grit his teeth” in tough battles and he seems to have listened.

He did not buckle under pressure from Miller and shrugged off huge right hands from Hrgovic, winning both crucial fights inside the distance.

Dubois’ team put little emphasis on developing his image early on; he made more noise with his fists.

The Greenwich-born boxer was assigned the nickname ‘Dangerous’ by his promoters before his debut in 2017 but Queensberry’s Dev Sahni was in for a surprise when he visited Dubois’ changing room.

“I glanced at his shorts and it read ‘Dynamite’,” Sahni says.

“All the posters and everything with his nickname had gone out but thankfully ‘Triple D’ still worked.”

Dubois has since become better acquainted with the showmanship of boxing.

While the trash talk still does not always come naturally, with no better example than Thursday’s news conference, there appears to be a deliberate attempt to showcase his personality.

He promised to “punch holes” in the brash Miller and is the self-proclaimed “king-slayer” against Joshua.

Warren is “continuously surprised” by Dubois’ growth and says there is still plenty to come as the champion prepares for his biggest test, on the biggest possible stage, on Saturday.

“Tyson Fury and AJ aren’t getting any younger. Daniel has shown in his last couple of fights how hungry and adaptable he is,” Warren says.

“This really is a young man’s game and, win or lose, I expect Daniel to be the future of the division.”