Anthony Joshua has the chance to become a three-time heavyweight champion next month. The man standing in his way is newly elevated Daniel Dubois, who is insistent he will force a changing of the heavyweight guard on UK shores.

The two men benefitted from Oleksandr Usyk – who has beaten both – vacating the IBF belt due to a contractual rematch clause with Tyson Fury.

Dubois, as Interim Champion with a win over Filip Hrgovic, was immediately elevated and will make his first defence against top-ranked Joshua.

Speaking to Boxing King Media, WBC Bridgerweight World Champion Lawrence Okolie drew on his experience of sparring both to make a prediction.

“It all depends on AJ to be fair. Listen, Dan, I like him a lot, we obviously trained together, but just from an objective point of view, Dan is one person you cannot write off because he’s very heavy handed and he’s got good grit and determination, but if AJ’s able to be one thing – consistent – working well behind his long straight punches, he should get the job done.”

Okolie then looked back to two Dubois performances – a stoppage loss to Joe Joyce in which he took a knee after fracturing his eye socket and a thrilling win over Kevin Lerena in which he was dropped three times in the first round.

“We’ve seen it happen a few times with Dan. We’ve seen him, a long time ago, with the Joe Joyce fight and the Kevin Lerena fight, he has moments where you can see the weakness in that armour. For all of that strength and power, if you’re able to be consistent I think you can get the job done. And I think AJ of all heavyweights is pretty consistent. That’s why I favour him.”

Joshua and Dubois top the bill at Wembley Stadium on September 21.