The more I see and hear of Oleksandr Usyk, the more I like him. He’s not only one of the most brilliant fighters but such a breath of fresh air within our sport.
I loved his tongue-in-cheek donation of the IBF belt to make the Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois bout possible at Wembley. He gave it up to pave the way for the Tyson Fury rematch, obviously. But his phrasing let out a cheeky side that I’m coming to appreciate more and more.
Usyk has beaten Joshua twice and Dubois – he can have a bit of fun. But definitely no malice there. On the other hand, he has returned a good favour because, without the belt, Joshua wouldn’t have taken the risk.
Of course, September used to be the opening of the boxing season. What kind of way to get things underway, a date loaded with jeopardy for both since it could easily be an end for the loser.
It depends on the nature of the defeat to some degree, but certainly it’s hard to see where Joshua goes if he labors his fourth career reverse.
Dubois has fewer miles on the clock, but after the heavy beating he took at the hands of Joe Joyce and being stopped by Usyk, the last thing the ‘Body Snatcher’ needs is to take another drubbing at Joshua’s hands and harbor aspirations of a world-title crack.
As I wrote here when the fight was first mooted, Joshua is the more complete fighter. He can box and bang, but he is vulnerable, as he showed against Andy Ruiz. He was badly hurt, dropped, and would have been knocked out if the referee hadn’t stepped in.
Dubois has definitely improved. That’s what we can vouch with much of his development happening markedly with us. He was behind to Filip Hrgovic this month, but he found a way. He’s still a bit one-dimensional. Explosive, the boy, but moves slow.
Question marks are against Dubois, of course, due to the defeat to Usyk. Though, he had Usyk in more trouble than either Joshua or Fury has done; he could not finish him.
When Usyk came back at him, he didn’t have the capacity to cope, and a lot of déjà vu set in from his loss to Joyce. This time, in front of a huge crowd at Wembley, things could go differently. This is an absolutely great opportunity to show himself on the biggest stage, to get a very important win when it counts.
Similarly, if Joshua can impress, it will further reinforce that real momentum might be building toward that elusive match with Fury or trilogy bout with Usyk.
So, all to play for in front of a packed Wembley Stadium.