London’s Daniel Dubois threatens to ‘throw the kitchen sink’ at Oleksandr Usyk as they fight for boxing’s crowning glory.
Ukraine’s majority shareholder in the four belts which will comprise the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world for one of them come midnight this Saturday is programming punches of laser precision.
Dubois believes that the ninth-round stoppage defeat he suffered at those lightning hands on the Polish border two years ago have helped ripen him from boyhood into the full-grown man about to return to the scene of his statement demolition of Anthony Joshua.
Usyk anticipates a more dangerous version of Dubois but insists that he, too, has improved. Even at the age of 38.
Dubois says he wants to confirm Wembley as his castle. Usyk proclaims England as his second home. Unsurprisingly since the key victories in his stellar career have been achieved either in this green and pleasant most at the expense of this kingdom’s finest in Joe Joyce, Tony Bellew, Derek Chisora, Joshua, Tyson Fury and Dubois himself.
Fee-fi-fo-fum he smells the blood of another English man.
Oleksandr Usyk (left) and Daniel Dubois (right) will clash once again in London on Saturday
Defending champion Usyk and Dubois pictured at Friday’s weigh-in at BOXPARK Wembley
We lick our lips in expectation of a fight for the ages simmering in all the prizering’s classic contrasts.
Age in all its experience versus the muscularity of an opponent eleven years younger.
The application of refined wisdom against the bounding ambition of hungry youth.
As for motivation? Dubois aches to conquer the entire world: ‘My time has come.’
Usyk is driven to the extreme training which keeps him young enough to fight for not only himself and his family but for his country in all its horrors of war with Russia: ‘I seek the legend of being a three-time undisputed world champion. And victory here is vitally important to the morale of every Ukrainian.’
Perhaps most crucial is the clash of styles between Oleksandr’s genius technique and the devastating power of Dynamite Dubois.
It is a conundrum which has the tipsters in a tizzy, with even the most canny among the boxing community divided in their predictions.
At the core of the debate lies the riddle that is Usyk, which no opponent has solved as yet. Not only has he maintained a physical condition which has shown no sign of decline thus far. But he is blessed with the highest boxing IQ on the planet. Which is of itself a compartment within a brilliant mind.
Their first match against each other took place in Poland back in 2023 and was won by Usyk
Dubois was knocked out in the ninth round as Usyk retained his world heavyweight titles
Between those ears is a computer. One which continues processing data about his rivals during even the most hectic fights. Watch him closely, which it is a privilege to do, and you see him adding to his repertoire of movement and southpaw punching with every fight.
This man just gets better all the time. Which is a disconcerting thought since he is already the most highly technical boxer of this and many previous ring generations.
Most of what Usyk needs to know about Dubois is banked in that fertile mind. Some of it from the early rounds in Poland in which he survived that low blow controversy and went on to bemuse Daniel into submission.
Memory of Dubois dropping to his knee from a southpaw right jab must be on both their minds.
Since then Dubois has regrouped valiantly with a hat-trick of KO victories over formidable foes. Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Joshua, who are big punchers in their own right.
This proper young man, whose only extravagance has been the purchase of a Porsche and who still lives at the family home, deserves this shot at the supreme prize.
Usyk accepts that if he is to follow up being undisputed champion first over a ferocious cruiserweight division and then at heavyweight with a third totally unified reign he must retrieve the IBF belt passed on to Dubois by one of those busybody ruling bodies.
So when promoter Frank Warren tells of the ease of making this fight because they both wanted it very much, he is referring to those rival ambitions. Not, as many imagined, to gargantuan purses.
Since that loss to Usyk two years ago, Dubois has ripened from boyhood into a full-grown man
But he will need to produce the performance of his career to get the better of Ukraine’s finest
Wildly extravagant speculation of them pocketing more than one hundred million dollars each could not be wider of the mark. Even allowing for pay-TV revenue Usyk is looking not much higher than $5 million, Dubois a little less.
Further fortunes will await the victor. If that is to be Dubois, it is likely he will have to land one of his decapitating right hands within the first five rounds. The longer it goes, the more complicated this fight will become for him, with the danger of another late stopping looming ever larger.
Dubois is hoping Father Time will be the vital factor. Usyk, a devout orthodox Christian makes a higher callin: ‘God will decide who wins.’
Even as a British patriot, I cannot go against the Almighty.
