Daniel Dubois understands that he cannot allow Oleksandr Usyk to get comfortable Saturday night.

The smart, skillful southpaw will pick Dubois apart if his heavy-handed challenger doesn’t do anything to disrupt Usyk’s rhythm. The taller, heavier Dubois will therefore try to make their 12-round heavyweight title fight as physical as possible as soon as the opening bell rings at Tarczynski Arena Wroclaw, a soccer stadium in Wroclaw, Poland.

Dubois noticed from watching Anthony Joshua’s two decision defeats to Usyk that Joshua’s caution cost him because the former champion’s lack of aggression enabled Usyk to do what he wanted. Like the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Dubois, the 6-foot-6, 244-pound Joshua was the significantly bigger man versus Usyk, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighed approximately 221 pounds for both of his victories over Joshua.

London’s Dubois (19-1, 18 KOs) explained how he’ll press Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) during an interview with former two-division champion Carl Frampton, who is an analyst for TNT Sports Boxing.

“I look at it like, yeah, the first fight, AJ was a bit cautious, a bit too cautious for me to fight Usyk,” Dubois said. “And yeah, definitely, you’ve gotta rough him up, haven’t you? It’s no secret – you can’t stand there and try and outbox him or anything. You’ve gotta rough him up. … It is what it is. I don’t wanna think too hard about it and go over it and that stuff. But I know what I’ve gotta do.”

Usyk, though 36 and physically smaller, is listed by most sportsbooks as at least a 10-1 favorite to beat Dubois, who is the mandatory challenger for Usyk’s WBA championship. They’ll also fight for the former undisputed cruiserweight champion’s IBF, IBO and WBO titles.

The 25-year-old Dubois brought veteran trainer Don Charles into his camp for the Usyk bout in part because Charles helped prepare Dereck Chisora for his fight with Usyk in October 2020. Usyk was heavily favored entering that 12-round bout as well, yet Chisora was competitive in losing a unanimous decision at OVO Arena Wembley in London (115-113, 115-113, 117-112).

“Having that experience there,” Dubois said, “and having a guy that has, you know, he’s been there, he’s trained a fighter to do it, and he has a bit of a blueprint. But, you know, it’s him and me and, you know, all the higher powers at work. We’re gonna go through him.”

TNT Sports Box Office will televise Usyk-Dubois as the main event of a pay-per-view show in the United Kingdom and Ireland (£19.95; 6 p.m. BST). ESPN+ will stream Usyk-Dubois as a one-bout broadcast in the United States (5 p.m. EDT; 2 p.m. PDT).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.