By: Sean Crose
For a split second, it seemed like the boxing world had turned upside down. There was Oleksandr Usyk, the walking, talking Ukrainian heavyweight champion who had beaten Anthony Joshua not once but twice, writing in agony after a punch to the body from Daniel Dubois. Indeed, the legend Usyk had been knocked out. The referee had ruled Dubois’ punch a body punch, and ordered Usyk to take more time to recover. It all felt very surreal. A few rounds later, Usyk knocked Dubois down again, leaving Dubois and his team even more bitter.
“I don’t think it was a weak punch,” Dubois said after the fact, “and I was cheated out of the win.” That may or may not be true – but the good news for Dubois is that he has another real chance to make his mark in the heavyweight division. No, he’s not fighting Usyk in a rematch. He is, however, facing the towering Joshua in a fight for the IBF heavyweight crown. It would be an understatement to say there’s a lot at stake for either man. By bouncing back from his loss to Usyk with back-to-back stoppage wins over Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic, Dubois has earned himself another real chance at glory.
However, defeating the famous Joshua is no easy task for anyone. After all, the man has learned from his own failures and has become arguably one of the best boxers in the sport, let alone the heavyweight division. Focused and determined, Joshua is looking to complete his redemption after two defeats to Usyk in 2022. All he needs to do to regain one of the world titles he once held is beat Dubois when they go toe-to-toe on September 21 at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Dubois, however, doesn’t see himself as anyone’s stepping stone. Like Joshua, he takes his business seriously. “I’m not here to say stupid things,” the boxer said on Queensbury’s YouTube “But I want to make a fool of AJ by knocking him out and putting all the doubters and critics to sleep… this fight is definitely bigger than the Usyk fight. This is definitely the lion’s den, this fight.” Dubois made it clear that he sees next month’s fight as a change of pace for the team.
“So he was king for a long time,” he said of his fellow Briton Joshua, “and now it’s my time.”
