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Usyk-Dubois 2 fight Notes to Consider - matchmaking, mentality, power and national pride
If there is anything to be known about heavyweight boxing – and the heavyweight championship of the world – is that the drama of the ring is very rarely confined to within its ropes. The beter stories, and the better narratives, lie in the roads that took either man to the prize. And, as is often, the best lie in the roads that they will take afterwards.
That is why when Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois take to the ring on Saturday at Wembley Stadium in London, the pair will enter not only carrying the weight of what lies ahead of them over twelve rounds, but the stories that have brought them to this point.
The pair fought just under two years ago in Wroclaw, Poland, on Ukraine’s celebration of its Day of Independence. The stadium was garlanded in yellow and blue, the home fighters were largely Ukrainian, and President Volodomyr Zelensky addressed the nation (and the world) in the moments before the first bell.
<There were 40,000 people that night in the stadium and most of them were singing for their Ukrainian homes. That was one of the stories of the first fight between Usyk and Dubois. In hindsight, it would seem churlish to imagine anything other than a victory that night for Usyk, carrying the weight of a nation upon his back.
But going into the second fight, there are a number of notes of consideration. Times – and people – have changed.
Usyk’s Age and Career
Heavyweight champion Usyk, 23-0 (14), is 38 years old and has been fighting professionally since 2013. He also had 350 fights as an amateur.
Just seven of his 23 fights have been at heavyweight, but they have been generally in bouts in which he has been greatly outweighed by much-taller fighters.
Since 2019, Usyk has fought:
- Chazz Witherspoon, who was 1” taller and 27lbs heavier.
- Derek Chisora, 38.25lbs heavier.
- Anthony Joshua, who was 4” taller and 18.75lbs heavier.
- Anthony Joshua for the second time, with a weight difference of 23lbs.
- Daniel Dubois, 3” taller and 12.25lbs heavier.
- Tyson Fury, 7” taller and 38.5lbs heavier
- Tyson Fury for the second time, when Fury was 55lbs heavier.
That is a lot of weight and mass that Usyk has competed against in that time. And that mark goes the other way – what does carrying an extra 25lbs of weight, muscle or otherwise, do to Usyk?
Dubois’s Record
While Daniel Dubois, 22-2 (21), holds the IBF heavyweight title, he won it by stopping a possibly shot Anthony Joshua in five rounds for a vacant championship. Take away the Joshua fight and confidence does not form. Usyk is a genuine Hall of Fame fighter, but Dubois at this stage of his career still has to pay the entrance fee.
After turning professional in 2017, it was not until Dubois fought a ‘named’ opponent in Kevin Johnson nearly two years later that he had a decent name on his record. The matchmaking was done particularly well afterwards, but there are no opponents who Dubois came through that went onto better things. Their sole career achievements were to be stopped in the early rounds by Dubois.
The biggest name on the road to the IBF title was Joe Joyce – who stopped Dubois in ten and then did not go on to achieve much else. Dubois went hell-for-leather against Kevin Lerena in London, the pair of them knocking each other down repeatedly. The only opponent with a decent record before Usyk was Trevor Bryan. And he has been nowhere since then.
After losing decisively to Usyk in Poland, Dubois’s career seems to have gone on a resurgence, but technical knockouts over Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic is not the same as beating Fury, Wilder, Zhang, Parker, or Joshua at his peak.
Usyk-Dubois 1
While the rematch is a fight between champions, the first match was Usyk’s party, arguably the first time he had been the ‘home’ fighter since winning his first cruiserweight belt. Dubois, that night in Wroclaw, was merely a guest.
Usyk also won that fight handily. Despite the controversy of whether the blow was low or not (immaterial, in the grand scheme of things), Usyk was leading on all three scorecards by five to seven points at the time of the stoppage. Unless Dubois had caught Usyk late, he was going to lose the fight either way.
When Dubois faces Usyk on Saturday, he is going to be looking across at an undefeated champion who not only defeated him but defeated him soundly, and is not afraid to travel to fight his opponents on their home turf.
Dubois’s Power
Dubois carries more power than Usyk. He is not the fastest puncher in the fight, but the hardest. And his power stays with him from the first bell until the last. He also, despite the two stoppage losses, can take a punch. And when he wants to, Dubois can get up and win, as was seen against Lerena and Joshua.
So what happens this weekend in London will come down to…
Dubois’s Mindset
Dubois stopped trying in the first fight when he came to the roadblock of the low blow that was not. After that, he seemed to drift away from the fight he was in, seeming to accept that he was not going to succeed. He seemed that night to be a fighter that can only win they are winning. Put them behind, give them a lead to close, and they lose heart.
Since that night, Dubois seems to have shaken off those thoughts. He went in hard against Hrgovic and Joshua, and managed to stop both (Joshua by knockout, Hrgovic on injuries). That seems to suggest that he knows now that while most fighters know how to win, it is champions that know how to prevail.
Usyk vs Dubois 2 only on DAZN
Watch Usyk versus Dubois 2 live and exclusive on DAZN PPV this Saturday - July 19 - for £24.99 UK; $59.99 US; $19.99/equivalent ROW. Buy the PPV now here.
