Oleksandr Usyk is undisputed heavyweight champion for a second time in his career. Usyk dominated Daniel Dubois in their rematch in London. With the win, Usyk added the IBF title he never lost to his WBA, WBO and WBC championships.
Usyk defeated Dubois in their 2023 meeting, one fight before becoming undisputed champion by beating Tyson Fury, but Dubois and his team clung to the idea that he deserved a knockdown for a shot that was ruled a low blow. Usyk rose from the foul to knock out Dubois in Round 9 that night, but the controversy stuck around and left Dubois feeling as though he’d been wronged.
There was no controversy on Saturday night as Usyk dominated the fight from the opening moments, easily picking Dubois apart with a pinpoint jab while defending brilliantly against Dubois’ power shots. Once Usyk established a rhythm, he began to hurt Dubois with heavy counters.
Dubois was hurt for the first time in the second round, when Usyk landed a hard counter from his southpaw stance. Dubois survived the round, but was repeatedly hurt as Usyk’s brilliance continued to show.
In the fifth round, Dubois tried to corner Usyk and unload a flurry but a hard shot behind the ear from Usyk sent him spilling to the canvas. Dubois beat the count and attempted to bring the fight right back to Usyk only for Usyk to land a bomb of a left hand that sent Dubois down and unable to beat the count at the 1:52 mark of Round 5.
Usyk has been undisputed champion three times in his career, once at cruiserweight and now twice at heavyweight. On Saturday, he pulled off the feat against a young, strong fighter nearly a decade his junior. Age, however, is not a factor, according to Usyk.
“38 is a young guy, remember,” Usyk said. “38 is only the start.”
When asked what could possibly be left to accomplish after already establishing himself as a Hall of Fame talent and possibly one of the best fighters to ever step in the ring, Usyk said his initial focus was on taking some time to be with his family before appearing to play to the crowd in Wembely Stadium by bringing up several local fighters, including Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, both of whom Usyk has already defeated twice.
“It’s enough. Next? I don’t know, I want to rest,” Usyk said. “I don’t know. I want to be at home with my family, my wife, my children. I want to rest now, but maybe for two or three months I just want to rest. … Maybe Tyson Fury. Maybe we have three options. Derek Chisora and Anthony Joshua. Maybe Joseph Parker. Listen, I can not say now because I want to go back home.”
In reality, Parker is the next man up. As promoter Frank Warren pointed out after the fight, the WBO has already ordered a fight with Parker, who holds their mandatory challenger spot.
Parker is on a great run, with recent high profile wins over Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Martin Bakole. Parker and WBC interim champion Agit Kabayel sit as the two top options for fresh opponents for Usyk, but with Fury’s recent moves toward ending his latest retirement, a third fight for huge money could be in the future for Usyk.
CBS Sports was with you throughout the entire way on Saturday with the live results and highlights below.
Fight card, results
- Oleksandr Usyk (c) def. Daniel Dubois via fifth-round knockout
- Lawrence Okolie def. Kevin Lerena via unanimous decision (99-91, 100-90, 100-90)
- Daniel Lapin def. Lewis Edmondson via majority decision (95-95, 96-94, 96-94)
- Solomon Dacres def. Vladyslav Sirenko via unanimous decision (99-91, 98-92, 98-92)
- Aadam Hamed def. Ezequiel Gregores via referee decision (40-36)
- Lasha Guruli def. James Francis via fifth-round TKO
