After months of speculation and with talks of a potential matchup with the Gypsy King Tyson Fury appearing to stall, Aleksander Usyk’s next matchup has finally been confirmed. The Ukrainian will defend the WBA belt against young Briton Daniel Dubois on August 26th at the Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw Poland.
Heavyweight Jugganaut Usyk Secures Next Title Fight
See you 26 august in Poland 🇺🇦🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/LegmShyoAL
— Alexander Usyk (@usykaa) July 6, 2023
This will be Usyk’s second title defense after defeating Anthony Joshua decisively in a rematch between the two back in August 2022 after Usyk had defeated AJ to win the belts a year previous in September 2021. Usyk had been slated for a matchup against Tyson Fury which was speculated to have been organized for April this year in the Wembley Arena, yet this never materialized with both fighters putting the blame on the other for the stalling of negotiations. With the collapse in talks between Usyk and Fury the Ukrainian turns to his mandatory challengers, of which Daniel Dubois appears to be the first in line.
Does Daniel Dubois Stand a Chance?
It might be hard to believe but Daniel Dubois is still only 25. Making his pro debut back in 2017, Dubois immediately established himself as one of the top prospects in Heavyweight boxing and went undefeated in his first 15 fights picking up 14 knockouts along the way.
His career hit a speed bump when he was paired up with another undefeated prospect in Joe Joyce. Joyce possessed a storied career in the amateurs and despite making his pro debut the same year as Dubois was over 10 years older than the young fighter. Joyce used this experience to outclass Dubois who appeared to be out of his element when dealing with the former Olympic silver medalist.
Since the defeat to Joyce, the young prospect has looked to get back to winning ways. Dubois has fought four times, emerging victorious on each occasion. Not only has he simply won each of these four fights but he has picked up a knockout on each occasion. His level of opponent has also increased with the young man picking up wins over names such as Bogdan Dinu and Trevor Bryan. It was in the win over Bryan where Dubois would win the WBA Regular Heavyweight championship. He would make one defence against Kevin Lerena overcoming serious adversity in the first round before picking up the KO victory in the third. This left him as the next contender to fight Usyk for the Primary WBA Heavyweight Title.
Many fans will be hoping for Usyk to pick up the win over Dubois which then may finally lead to the long awaited Tyson Fury fight to be made, though some are still reluctant to count out Dubois who will be looking to shock the world and win in what would be one of the biggest underdog stories in recent boxing memory.
