Hours before Daniel Dubois knocked out Anthony Joshua in front of 96,000 people at Wembley Stadium last September, he and his father Stan threw a party at their Essex home.

Though Team Dubois didn't know it at the time, the soirée was a celebration of what was to come later that night: the crowning of a new superstar heavyweight on British shores. Joshua had just been poleaxed and sent flying onto the bottom ropes while Tyson Fury would fail in his attempt to win back his world titles from Oleksandr Usyk three months later.

The party plans are in place again this weekend before Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs), who has already lost to Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs), in August 2023, battles the Ukrainian once more for the undisputed heavyweight championship.

"We had a little celebration at home before the AJ fight," Dubois tells The Ring. "The day of the fight it was. My dad brought a lot of people he knows around, it was good, music and food. We're gonna do the same again, I don't know how many people but everyone's got good energy.

"I won't be eating too much, you don't want to go into the ring fat and full."

This time, the rematch with Usyk will take place on home soil. Dubois will be the first man in history to headline the National Stadium in consecutive bouts. A win, in essence, would crown him as King of Wembley.

"This is going to be a historic moment. When I win at Wembley, I'll make it my home. It was Joshua's home, Joshua was the man, but it's gonna be mine," he continues.

"I know a lot of people that still don't accept me as being The Man, so I've got to make sure I put my stamp on it ... I am the man. I don't know why it's like that for us ... it's just been the way it is. People talk about his loss and how he's gonna come back and all that ... listen, I've got a chance to put it right. I'm gonna do just that."

Dubois' first fight with Usyk at the Wroclaw Stadium in Poland ended in a ninth-round TKO defeat for the London-born brute. Questions, once again, were raised over his heart and ability to withstand overwhelming swathes of pressure in the ring. It was a jab which sent Dubois down to his knee. Referee Luis Pabon waved things off a few seconds later and, just like that, the second defeat of Dubois' career was etched onto his record.

That fight was Dubois' first with trainer Don Charles, who was overly animated at the announcement press conference for the rematch at the end of April. Charles still believes Usyk, who went down from a low blow in the fifth round, feigned injury and bought himself time to recover from what the 62-year-old believes was a legal body shot.

Since that defeat, for which Dubois and Charles had 14 weeks to prepare, the pair have been on a tear, knocking out Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua in the space of 10 months, picking up the IBF belt by way of Usyk relinquishment in the process.

Dubois came under moments of serious duress in the wins over Miller and Hrgovic but ultimately came through to score stoppages. The confidence shown in his victory over Joshua came almost as a result of those two battle-hardening tests.

The path has led all the way back to Usyk, who, since the win over Dubois, became undisputed champion by handing Tyson Fury his first loss in May 2024 before repeating the result in their December sequel.

"It's a full circle moment [being here with Don]. It feels like the stars have aligned and it's all coming back together," Dubois adds. We're back to where it started really, so I'm looking forward to doing my job and making history.

"This is a massive, massive fight. And it's going to be a great night and a great victory.

"I'm looking forward to putting him out, knocking him out, and putting all this to sleep now. I've been training for a long time for it, I can't wait to get my hands on him again."

Physically, Dubois is a specimen and has everything in his toolbox capable of achieving zenith-like success in boxing's most famed division.

It's Dubois' mental psyche which has been questioned. Ever since August 2023, however, those doubts, slowly but surely, look to have been washed away.

In the lead up to Dubois' destructive KO of Joshua, the 27-year-old would stare at the Wembley arch, which can be seen in the distance from Charles' farmland Gym on the outskirts of North London, every day before training.

And he admits the fixation on Wembley's nearly-2,000 tonne arch remains.

"The signs are all there, I still look at it every day. I stare at it," he says.

"We've been working hard for a long time now, we're preparing for a win. We're not prepared to come home grumpy."