Daniel Dubois suffered another knockout loss to Oleksandr Usyk this month.
The hard-hitting Brit was stopped in the fifth round of his monumental rematch with Usyk at Wembley Stadium in London on July 19, surrendering his IBF world heavyweight title in the process.
It was a repeat of their first encounter which took place in Poland back in August of 2023, although the Ukrainian superstar stopped Dubois in the ninth round that night to successfully retain his unified heavyweight titles once again.
Usyk became the undisputed heavyweight champion once again with that historic victory over Dubois last weekend, but the 27-year-old from London now finds himself in a difficult position according to Hall of Fame inductee and former world featherweight champion Barry McGuigan.
In an interview with Seconds Out, McGuigan said that Dubois is now ‘damaged’ after, although the Irish legend does believe that, due to his incredible KO power, the 27-year-old can come back and return to the pinnacle of the division once again.
“You know, Dubois can come back, but he’s damaged now and people will know that he’s got that vulnerability about him and he can be knocked out.
“He fights instinctively. He’s a powerhouse, strong guy, gets into punching range and anybody he hits properly, they’re going and that’s it. But it’s hard to make him a thinking fighter – almost impossible. So I don’t know if he can improve in that area. He’s just got to get out, get a number of wins, get his confidence back. He has the power to knock anybody out as he’s shown a number of times … He’s got to try and turn his career around. He’s still young enough to do it, but I don’t know if he’ll ever be able to learn the way a Usyk can learn. He just hasn’t got the mental capacity to do that.”
Asked about the ongoing ‘quitting’ debate, McGuigan said he doesn’t give any credence to it at all and that it is a cruel thing to say by many people who ‘never took a punch in their life.’
While Dubois is now faced with having to rebuild and potentially make some important changes ahead of his return to the ring, Usyk has cemented himself as the greatest heavyweight of his generation with yet another legacy defining victory.
The Ukrainian has been ordered to face mandatory challenger Joseph Parker, though may instead to opt to vacate the WBO belt and look for a bigger money bout.
