By: Sean Crose
For a split second, it looked like the world of boxing was being turned on it’s head. There was Oleksandr Usyk, the walking, talking skill set from Ukraine, the holder of numerous heavyweight belts, the man who bested Anthony Joshua not once, but twice, writing in pain from a body shot delivered by Daniel Dubois. Indeed, the legendary Usyk had been sent to the mat. The referee ruled Dubois’s shot a body blow, and insisted Usyk take some extra time for himself to recover. It was all very odd. A few rounds later, Usyk went on to stop Dubois, adding even more bitterness for Dubois and his team.
“I didn’t think it was a low blow,” said Dubois after all was said and done, “and I’ve been cheated out of victory.” That may or may not be true – but the good news for Dubois is that he once again has a real chance to leave his mark on the heavyweight division. No, he’s not fighting Usyk in a rematch. What he is, however, is facing the towering Joshua in a bout for the IBF heavyweight crown. To say there’s a lot at stake for each man would be an understatement. By returning from the Usyk loss with back to back stoppage wins against Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic, Dubois has earned himself another legit crack at glory.
Defeating the popular Joshua, however, is no one’s easy task. The man has learned from his own defeats, after all, and has arguably become one of the better boxer-punchers in the sport, much less the heavyweight division. Focused and determined, Joshua is looking to complete his redemption after those two losses to Usyk back in 2022. All he needs to do to get back one of those world titles he used to possess is to defeat Dubois when they throw down September 21st at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Dubois, however, simply doesn’t see himself as anyone’s stepping stone. Like Joshua, the man takes his business seriously. “I’m not here to talk foolishness,” the fighter has said on Queensbury’s YouTube page, “but I want to make a fool out of AJ by knocking him out and put all the doubters and the critics to sleep…this is definitely bigger than the Usyk fight. This is definitely the lion’s den, this one.” Dubois made it clear that he sees next month’s fight as something of a changing of the guard.
“So he’s been the king for a long time,” he said of his fellow Brit Joshua, “and now is my time.”