Oleksandr Usyk isn’t fascinated about Tyson Fury or any heavyweight apart from Daniel Dubois this week.
Usyk understandably would’ve most popular to struggle Fury subsequent in what would’ve been a full title unification bout. Their representatives couldn’t agree on cash, nevertheless, which left Usyk to make a mandated protection of his WBA title towards Dubois on Saturday evening at Tarczynski Enviornment Wroclaw, a soccer stadium in Wroclaw, Poland.
Fury, after all, is making ready for a crossover occasion wherein he’ll face former UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou. Their exhibition is scheduled for October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ukraine’s Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) nonetheless needs to face Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) as a result of it will afford him a chance to grow to be boxing’s first totally unified heavyweight champion of the four-belt period. As a lot as he needs to struggle Fury, Usyk burdened throughout an “Throughout The Desk” phase for TNT Sports activities Boxing that he’s totally targeted on Dubois, who is a big underdog, but additionally a giant puncher who has received 90 p.c of his skilled fights by knockout (19-1, 18 KOs).
“I don’t underestimate him,” Usyk informed host Carl Frampton, based on promoter Alex Krassyuk’s translation. “He’s the person. He’s robust. He’s hungry. He’s younger. He needs to have it. He needs to have my belt. I deal with him 100%, like I used to deal with Anthony Joshua or Dereck Chisora or Tony Bellew. It’s precisely the identical for me. I skilled arduous in my health club to do my job correctly. [However] it goes, it has to go the way in which my staff deliberate for me.”
London’s Dubois, 25, has received 4 straight fights, all inside the space, since one other hard-hitting Brit, Joe Joyce, beat Dubois into submission through the tenth spherical of their November 2020 battle at Church Home in London.
The 6-foot-5, 240-pound Dubois was knocked down by unheralded longtime cruiserweight Kevin Lerena thrice through the first spherical of his final bout, however Dubois contended that these three journeys to the canvas have been penalties of a knee damage he sustained. Dubois recovered and dropped South Africa’s Lerena (29-2, 14 KOs) twice earlier than referee Howard Foster stopped their scheduled 12-rounder within the third spherical December 3 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
The 6-foot-3, 221-pound Usyk, a former undisputed cruiserweight champion, has not been knocked down throughout his 10-year skilled profession. The 2012 Olympic gold medalist outpointed former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO champ Anthony Joshua in every of his final two bouts, however the 36-year-old southpaw will finish a one-year layoff when he battles Dubois as a result of his 12-round, split-decision victory over England’s Joshua (26-3, 23 KOs) of their rematch befell final August 20 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
TNT Sports activities Field Workplace will televise Usyk-Dubois as the primary occasion of a pay-per-view present in the UK and Eire (£19.95; 6 p.m. BST). ESPN+ will stream Usyk-Dubois as a one-bout broadcast in the USA (5 p.m. EDT; 2 p.m. PDT).
Keith Idec is a senior author/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He could be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
