Oleksandr Usyk‘s rematch with Daniel Dubois is less than a month away, and promoter Eddie Hearn has given insight into how he thinks it will play out.
Dubois and Usyk first faced off back in August 2023. Usyk was put with a shot that was ruled low, given time to recover and went on to stop the Brit in the ninth round.
Since then he has twice beaten Tyson Fury to become undisputed ruler before dropping the IBF belt to honour the rematch. Dubois has fought three times and won by stoppage on each occasion, elevated to IBF Champion after beating Filip Hrgovic and then defending that status against former two time ruler Anthony Joshua.
Speaking to DAZN Boxing, Hearn outlined where Dubois is at right now in his career.
“It’s a great fight. For Dubois, the inactivity, missing out on the Joseph Parker fight might hurt him a little bit. The momentum for Dubois has been incredible. He beat Miller, he beat Hrgovic, he beat Joshua.
“But it will be 10 months out of the ring. I still think he will have the confidence, but he could have done with that fight, or maybe this fight three months ago. When they fought last time I don’t think that was the best Usyk by any stretch, but I also don’t think it was the Daniel Dubois we have now.
“At that stage, he went to Poland and gave Usyk a decent fight. He didn’t win many rounds but he gave him a good fight, and obviously the controversial low blow as well. Now I think Dubois has a lot more confidence. “
He then broke down his chances of taking the win.
“The reality is it’s for the undisputed heavyweight world championship. You know, Daniel Dubois could be the undisputed world heavyweight champion. I don’t think he will be, but he can punch and he is strong.
“When you fight Usyk, people say the bigger man has got to be more dominant and push him back and that is what everyone said about ‘AJ’, but it’s not that easy. Look at the size of ‘AJ’, look at the size of Tyson Fury. They weren’t able to get on the front foot, beat him up and push him back. Can Daniel Dubois do it? Probably not, but he’s young, heavy-handed and confident, and he’s in the fight.”
If Usyk wins on July 19 at Wembley Stadium, he will be a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion – three time in total having won all the belts at cruiserweight – with little left to achieve in the sport. Dubois, of course, wants to end his career without letting him achieve that historic feat.
