As a cluster of British media wonder aloud whether Daniel Dubois' shove on Oleksandr Usyk was premeditated, or a conscious decision made in the moment, he laughs off the question when asked later that afternoon.

Allow yourself to strip away the contentious fifth-round low blow for a minute. Dubois was younger and less battle-hardened when Usyk soundly beat and stopped him with a ninth-round finish in Wroclaw, Poland, two summers ago, though this marks an entirely different proposition.

Alex Krassyuk, the unbeaten Ukrainian champion’s promoter and confidant, stresses that,in conversation with The Ring.

"Usyk remains the same, he's on his highest heights, but Daniel isn’t a kid anymore," he said. "He's a mature man with big muscles and even bigger experience, it’s a completely different fight now."

Dubois lets his mind briefly wander back to last summer, training from the Pug Gym with the famed Wembley arches providing a motivational backdrop as a long-awaited Anthony Joshua showdown neared.

Undoubtedly the b-side - which he embraces again here - the 27-year-old produced precisely the sort of showing many had tipped him for as a fearsome teenager sprouting through Frank Warren's Queensberry stable.

The scene was brutal, brilliant and almost disrespectful of a generational great, dismantling Joshua without appearing to accelerate beyond second gear in a historic venue Joshua knows well.

It felt symbolic that Jarrell Miller, whose unbeaten record he seized nine months earlier, was one of the first outside his inner circle to congratulate him ringside while Usyk and others watched on a sellout night in north-west London.

All of the Joshua-centric memorabilia, posters and pre-fight focus on becoming a three-time world champion had quickly been shifted into an afterthought that with hindsight, feels more like wishful thinking as time passes and the 35-year-old's body continues to break down.

Now though, Dubois is a champion in his own right and riding a wave of form many didn’t foresee after capitulating rather quickly on that muggy night in Wroclaw. South African judge Stanley Christodoulou gave him two rounds, while Poland's Pawel Kardyni and Leszek Jankowiak gave him a round apiece during a bout few expected him to win.

Revisionist history has been the name of the game for team Dubois, suggesting foul play, though they'll be quietly heartened knowing their man has been strengthened by those experiences and age plays a factor.

Tyson Fury was 19-pounds heavier for the rematch and Usyk emerged a more comprehensive victor than their thrilling first fight last May, though some observers suggested both had shown subtle signs of physical decline. Father Time is undefeated, after all.

When asked by The Ring about what he has to do, that Joshua and Fury couldn’t manage over 48 rounds combined, Dubois kept it short.

"I need to win, simple as."

Alright, well, is the key going to be targeting Usyk's body?

"No. Any flesh that I see, just whack it hard. You've seen him get hurt there but I'm not going to go crazy on it, just gotta mix it up."

Two perfect records snatched, a legend slain and firmly in form, the Joseph Parker-shaped asterisk appears to have been rectified - at least for now - as the Kiwi will stay active in the interim before potentially fighting July’s victor to close this year.

Dubois continued referring back to being on home turf, any foreign sign-off or perceived questions about his hurried Riyadh medical treatment in February now squashed with the comfort of familiar faces. He confirmed that, as was the case before his injury-enforced stoppage defeat by Joe Joyce five years prior, swollen glands were the issue and his tonsils were removed at some stage last year.

"It was gutting [to withdraw from the Parker fight]. Not just for me, the whole team, camp expenses, sparring and everything. It was depressing for a while but here we are, we've got a new mission. This suits us better on home turf, yeah it’s been a problem but I’m staying on top of it now."

He also stresses mind games won’t work, that the unified champion won’t be able to match nor handle his physicality, before his eyes light up when talking about youngest brother and aspiring boxer Solomon.

Trying to stay on topic, he's asked what has been the most important component of his resurgence. Given the instrumental role he's played up to this point, it's no surprise to hear his father Stan get a mention.

"Doing the work. Having faith, improving and learning from the past, being bold like a lion and stepping into the future, having my dad there supporting me, getting through a lot of it and having a good foundation."

He agrees with Warren’s assessment that, while they weren’t to know it at the time, the Usyk defeat toughened him up. Some questioned an emotive Don Charles for his post-fight press conference comments, labelling Usyk a cheat rather than reflecting on what a 'distraught' Dubois could’ve done better during the rare moments he had the unified champion hurt and in danger.

"Many things went against me in that fight and it ended the way it did, you saw it, but I’ve come back and feel like I’m a new person. The whole experience has driven me on, to succeed and improve."

Shining the spotlight elsewhere and, as he and Warren have since said, privately having serious conversations with Dubois would’ve served him well when close confidants wouldn’t exactly have been lining up to talk.

"My dad bringing Don into my life, Kieran [Farrell], it's helped massively. He just brings the right people in and they give me their experiences, pass on their knowledge," he continues.

Foreshadowing what was to come later that day, he makes a tongue-in-cheek comment about paying his team to "cause a stir and irritate" Usyk's camp and the assembled media can't help but laugh.

"I'm fighting to put the past right and clear up the controversy," he says before receiving a stern look from one of his team members standing impatiently nearby. He's got somewhere better to be and redemption to start preparing for.