Oleksandr Usyk Defends Heavyweight Belts Against Daniel Dubois: Recap of Controversial TKO Fight

2023-08-26 22:23:00

ESPN Digital26 de ago, 2023, 18:23 ETLectura: 2 min.

Unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk successfully defended all three of his belts once morest Englishman Daniel Dubois in a WBA mandatory fight.

Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk (21-0-0, 14 KO’s) controversially retained his three heavyweight world champion belts (WBA, WBO and IBF) by defeating Englishman Daniel Dubois (19-2) by technical knockout in the ninth round. -0, 18 KO’s) in a WBA mandatory fight held at the Stadion Wroclaw in Poland.

The denouement came 48 seconds into the ninth round following a solid short right hook from Usyk sent Dubois to the canvas who mightn’t get past the protection count.

Thus ended an entertaining fight that might have been the surprise of the year when in the fifth round Dubois hit the champion’s soft areas at the limit of what was legal. The right uppercut seemed to land on Usyk’s sash as he fell and began to quiver in pain.

The Puerto Rican referee Luis Pabón determined that the blow had been below the belt and gave the Ukrainian five regulatory minutes of recovery.

The repetition did not make it clear that the coup was illegal and from that moment it opened the door to debate.

After recovering, Usyk resumed the reins of the fight that he had clearly dominated thanks to his jab, hand speed and mobility in the ring.

“(Dubois) has no power. I just felt it in my balls,” Usyk said when questioned at the end of the lawsuit regarding the controversial blow.

About what he wants next, Usyk was emphatic: “I’m ready tomorrow for Tyson Fury. Whenever he wants. The next fight I want to fight Fury. What I don’t know is if Fury is ready for me.”

Fury holds the WBC heavyweight championship belt and a fight between the two would determine the first undisputed king of the division in the four-belt era (since 1988).