Undefeated Ukrainian boxer, 2012 Olympic champion Oleksandr Usyk continues to churn out victories. In the 21st professional fight, the heavyweight not without problems defended five belts from the encroachments of Daniel Dubois and now he will again try to knock out the main confrontation in his career with another British Tyson Fury. The correspondent talks about the controversial fight in Wroclaw, Poland.
It is unlikely that for today's battle one could pick up the characteristic «long-awaited». Indeed, opposite Oleksandr Usyk, who twice beat the star Anthony Joshua, they were waiting for a completely different opponent. The Ukrainian became the most titled «heavyweight» on the planet: he is the best according to the World Boxing Association (WBA Super), the World Boxing Organization (WBO), the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the International Boxing Organization (IBO). Plus, he has The Ring belt — just one step separates the athlete from the main achievement in world boxing, the title of absolute world champion in «royal weight». But the title according to the World Boxing Council (WBC) was taken by Tyson Fury and is in no hurry to part with him: the Gypsy King also does not know defeat and has a killer list of scalps than Alexander. Their meeting would be guaranteed to be included in the list of the greatest confrontations in the history of boxing — the fans froze in anticipation…
Until we waited. Fury scored on Usyk and opted for clowning with former UFC champion Francis Ngannou. We were content with meeting a native of Simferopol with Daniel Dubois, Fury's compatriot with the status of a mandatory challenger in the WBA.
At the Stadion Wrocław, the 36-year-old champion was at home: in addition to the Ukrainians, he was also supported by the local audience. However, the little-known guest from London, who was jittering during the announcement of the boxers, at first did not interfere. In the first four rounds, the challenger was no worse than Usyk and, perhaps, thanks to the passive work of the favorite, he took two three-minutes.
Dubois bet on a combination of body and head. At times, the attacks passed, but more often the young Briton (Usyk is 11 years older) hit the opponent in the groin. There were many such attacks, after one of the hits below the belt, Alexander even had to take a five-minute pause in order to recover and wait out the pain penetrating the whole body.
However, on social media, many fans felt that the punch was legal (it hit the left side at the level of the elastic of the shorts) and that Dubois should have awarded the victory by technical knockout.
A scandal is coming.
Playing on the verge of a foul on the part of Daniel could not help but anger Usyk — there was a turning point in the fight. In the sixth round, the champion came out clearly furious. And then he seized the initiative: Usyk increased the pace and, acting as a clear first number, began to drive Dubois around the ring. The Briton snapped, but the advantage in size and less emotionality did not save him. In the eighth round, he was knocked down for the first time (it is not clear what kind of blow caused the boxer to fall on the canvas — most likely, the cumulative effect affected), and already in the ninth he collapsed after being missed in the jaw.
The referee counted to ten, but Daniel never recovered. This was the first early victory for Usyk since October 2019, when the beaten American Chazz Witherspoon refused to fight. I was deceived and deprived of victory. (TNT Sports Boxing)
Daniel DuboisBritish boxer
While Dubois' managers are about to appeal the result, Usyk, with a record of 21-0 (14 KOs/TKOs), is waiting for the outcome of Fury's October meeting with Ngannou. The sides of the Ukrainian and the British will have to sit down again at the negotiating table and try to organize the loudest boxing match of 2024.
If they don’t hit on the hands on the second attempt, then Usyk will have to crush the next contender. The belt holder has already been challenged more than once by the undefeated Croatian Filip Hrgovic: the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2015 European Championship winner and the IBF mandatory contender wants to take advantage of Fury's preference for the Ukrainian Predator from the UFC, and wait for the fight with Alexander at the end of this year or at the beginning of the next.
Poll What do you think about the controversial episode in the fifth round? %VoteVoted:829August 27, 02:40