The top heavyweight in the game is in action at the end of August as Oleksandr Usyk defends his unified heavyweight championship against Daniel Dubois. Usyk (20-0 with 13 knockouts) holds the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO, and The Ring heavyweight titles after successive decision victories over Anthony Joshua, and he has been dominant at heavyweight even though he needed to put on pounds to move up from cruiserweight a few years ago. Dubois (19-1 with 18 knockouts) is looking to make a name for himself though, and he will try to end this fight early. In Dubois’ career, only two of his 20 fights have made it past the fifth round.
Although this fight is in Poland, there will be a lot of patriotic zeal surrounding Oleksandr Usyk as this bout is taking place two days after Ukrainian Independence Day. This promotion will be broadcast on ESPN+ in the United States and Canada, and the main card is set to get underway at 2 p.m. ET with the final fight taking place a little after 5 p.m. ET.
When: Saturday, August 26, 2023
Where: Tarczynski Arena, Wroclaw, Poland
Why: Unified Heavyweight Championship
Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois Betting Odds
Daniel Dubois +641
Oleksandr Usyk -1150
Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois Preview
It seems unlikely that this fight will go the full 12 rounds given the type of fighter that Daniel Dubois has been over his career. Dubois will be 26 years old a week after this bout, and he has shown himself to be a hard charger that looks to end fights quickly with his power. That’s worked well for him as he is 6’5 with a 78-inch reach, but he has yet to face anyone with real stopping power. Neither Trevor Bryan nor Kevin Lerena have turned a lot of heads, and those are his best wins.
Oleksandr Usyk is more natural as a cruiserweight. He spent five years in that weight class and dominated the division before moving up to heavyweight in order to collect a bigger paycheck. Heavyweights are still the biggest draw in the sport, and so Usyk trained with former title holder Wladimir Klitschko in order to take on Derek Chisora back on Halloween in 2020. The Ukrainian fighter was able to win a unanimous victory, but it was hard fought and proved that he need to get bigger if he was going to take out Anthony Joshua.
Usyk was a sizeable underdog against Joshua by the boxing betting odds, but he proved a lot of pundits wrong with a unanimous decision victory that was scored 117-112, 116-112, and 115-113. Joshua activated the rematch clause in the contract to salvage some dignity, and he put up a much better fight the second time with one judge deciding in his favor. However, Usyk was the winner by the other two judges’ scorecards and managed to remain unbeaten.
The champion is two inches shorter than the challenger, but they have the same exact measurables in terms of reach. I like Usyk to successfully defend his belt with a knockout in the final four rounds as Dubois will probably be out of gas at that point of the night.
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