No. 3-ranked Oleksandr Usyk introduced us with an uncommon downside.
The Ukrainian star received the job accomplished towards overmatched Daniel Dubois on Saturday in Poland, dominating the Londoner for many of their battle and delivering a ninth-round knockout to retain his heavyweight titles.
Nevertheless, most observers imagine Dubois ought to’ve been awarded a knockout victory in Spherical 5 when an obvious physique shot put Usyk down and harm him badly however was dominated a low blow by referee Luis Pabon, which gave Usyk time to get better.
Little question about it: Usyk was lucky that he didn’t endure the primary lack of his profession.
So the place does that go away him on Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound record?
We determined to go away him the place he’s primarily based on the official end result regardless that we’re satisfied that the punch that put Usyk down landed above the highest of the hip bone, which is the boundary line for a low blow.
Usyk’s run close to the highest of the pound-for-pound world won’t final for much longer, although.
He reiterated after his victory that he needs to face No. 5-ranked fellow beltholder Tyson Fury in his subsequent battle if Fury beats Francis Ngannou on Oct. 28, presumably this winter in Saudi Arabia.
The 36-year-old Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) appears to be extra weak than he has ever been as knowledgeable.
Right here’s what the record seems like in the meanwhile:
BOXING JUNKIEPOUND-FOR-POUND
Terence Crawford – No battle scheduled.
Naoya Inoue – No battle scheduled.
Oleksandr Usyk – No battle scheduled.
Dmitry Bivol – No battle scheduled.
Tyson Fury – Scheduled to face MMA star Francis Ngannou in a boxing match on Oct. 28 in Saudi Arabia.
Juan Francisco Estrada – No battle scheduled.
Canelo Alvarez– Scheduled to defend his 168-pound titles towards Jermell Charlo on Sept. 30.
Jermell Charlo – Scheduled to problem 168-pound champion Canelo Alvarez on Sept. 30.
Gervonta Davis – No battle scheduled.
Errol Spence Jr. – No battle scheduled.
Vasiliy Lomachenko – No battle scheduled.
Artur Beterbiev – Scheduled to defend his 175-pound titles towards Callum Smit on Jan. 23 in Quebec Metropolis, Canada.
Shakur Stevenson – No battle scheduled.
Roman Gonzalez – No battle scheduled.
Devin Haney – Reportedly in talks to problem 140-pound titleholder Regis Prograis on Oct. 28 however no announcement has been made.
Honorable point out (alphabetical order): David Benavidez (no battle scheduled); Jermall Charlo (no battle scheduled); Sunny Edwards (scheduled to face Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez in a 112-pound title-unification bout on Dec. 16); Kazuto Ioka (no battle scheduled); Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (scheduled to face Sunny Edwards in a 112-pound title-unification bout on Dec. 16).
