Ricky Hatton has given his view on the upcoming rematch between Daniel Dubois and Oleksandr Usyk.
These two heavyweights will do battle on July 19 at Wembley Stadium, almost exactly two years after their first meeting.
That was a controversial contest that ended with the Ukrainian securing a ninth round knockout of Dubois, who was in his first world title fight.
However, in the fifth round, Usyk was the one down on the canvas for several minutes after the referee judged a body shot delivered by Dubois to have been low.
After the fight, Dubois’ team appealed the loss, which was unsuccessful, but they have insisted that Usyk conned the referee into thinking the shot was low and bought himself time to recover.
Since then, Usyk has become undisputed champion by twice beating Tyson Fury, while Dubois picked up the IBF belt the Ukrainian vacated before his second fight with ‘The Gypsy King.’ He has since defended it in impressive fashion by stopping Anthony Joshua last September.
As such, these are the two form men in the division, which is why former two-weight world champion Hatton found it hard to pick a winner when speaking to Vegas Insider.
“Daniel Dubois is one hell of a fighter and the first fight against Oleksandr Usyk was a good fight with a bit of controversy and Daniel looked like he had hurt Usyk.
“But the fact that this AJ win will give him the confidence now going into that fight means it wouldn’t be a foregone conclusion if they rematch.
“The fact Oleksandr Usyk has beaten Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, he deserves to be the number one in the division. But if I had to bet my house, I wouldn’t say it’s a foregone conclusion, especially with Daniel’s confidence.”
Whoever comes out on top may immediately have to defend the WBO belt against mandatory challenger and former belt holder, Joseph Parker.
