On September 21, a professional boxing evening will take place in London. The main event of the tournament will feature a title fight in the heavyweight division: the current IBF world champion, Briton Daniel Dubois, will defend against former three-time world champion Anthony Joshua.
The fight will be for the full IBF title, although Dubois was declared champion without a title opportunity. The fact is that in early June the Briton defeated Filip Hrgovic and became interim champion and top contender according to the IBF. But absolute world champion Alexander Usik rejected the fight with Dubois in favour of a rematch with Tyson Fury and left the belt vacant. Thus, Daniel has been promoted to absolute champion and will make his first defence next weekend.
The Briton could have become a full-fledged champion, and in three versions at once, last year. In 2022, Daniel became a regular WBA champion and even defended the title, after which he was given the biggest opportunity of his life – in a fight against Alexander Usik. By that time, the Ukrainian had defeated Anthony Joshua twice, taking away three championship belts from him, and decided to defend himself against WBA challenger Dubois.
The Briton, who was then 25 years old, was eager to seize the golden opportunity. Daniel has repeatedly expressed that he will knock out Usik and that the Ukrainian cannot resist his power. But the fight began under the dictation of the champion: Alexander worked well on his feet in his style in the first rounds, interrupted the Briton and did not allow him to come close. Dubois watched his opponent closely and worked a lot on the body, seeing this as Alexander’s weak point. In the fifth round, one of these blows caused an episode that was much talked about after the fight. Dubois landed a powerful right to the body and Usyk found himself on the ground. Only Alexander demonstratively showed the judge that the blow hit the groin area, while he was writhing in pain. The referee believed Usyk, gave him a few minutes to recover, after which the fight continued.
Numerous replays show that Dubois hit the rubber, but Usyk’s shorts were too high and covered his navel, which is unacceptable according to the rules. It looked like Daniel had penetrated Alejandro’s body, but the Ukrainian turned out to be more cunning.
Dubois vs Usyk fight
Photo: Foto Olimpik/NurPhoto via Getty Images
After that, Usyk started and increased the pace. The Ukrainian went on the offensive, and Dubois was forced to defend himself, and in a few moments he simply survived. In the seventh round, Daniel was saved from a knockdown only by a gong; after a series of blows from Usik, the Briton “floated”. In the next segment, Dubois was forced to kneel to catch his breath. Well, in the ninth round, Alexander put an end to this: the Ukrainian caught his opponent with an excellent jab in the jump, Daniel ended up on the ground and could not continue the fight.
Of course, after the fight, the talk was not about the knockout, but rather about that very punch in the fifth round.
“I don’t think it was a low blow. In my opinion, it was a legal blow. I was deceived and deprived of victory. I was deceived. Today I won. But you know what? I will be back,” Dubois said immediately after the fight.
The groin blow episode caused a lot of controversy:
Did Usyk fool everyone? He missed a controversial shot and stayed there for a long time.
Usik, of course, had the opposite opinion on this matter.
“Wow, Usik’s shorts were high. Comedy. Dubois lost and says my shorts were high. I can box without shorts. I respect my opponent, but this is boxing, not ballet. This is boxing, a difficult sport. Did I appreciate Du Bois’ power? “I don’t, just my groin,” Alexander said.
Daniel even tried to appeal the outcome of the fight and file an appeal, but, of course, this did not lead to anything. Usik remained the champion, retained his belts and had the opportunity to fight the most outstanding fight of our time – against Tyson Fury. Dubois was left with nothing, the Briton was one step away from greatness, but was forced to start all over again. Now Daniel is the reigning champion, and who knows, maybe if he defeats Joshua, he will have the opportunity to have a rematch with Usyk. Daniel seems to want it. But first, the Briton will have a fight against an eminent compatriot, and this fight will definitely not be easy.
