In what has been described as a battle of skill and finesse against blunt power WBA, WBO, and IBF heavyweight champion Alexsandr Usyk from the Ukraine defends his belts against the WBA secondary heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois of England in Wroclow, Poland on Saturday night.
The 36-year-old Usyk (20-0; 13), who fights from the southpaw stance, is a former undisputed cruiserweight world champion and has remained unbeaten in the heavyweight division since moving up in 2019.
Usyk is an Olympic gold medallist and has never looked like losing at heavyweight due to his superior boxing skills and with technical prowess has been able to stop and outfight some creditable opponents.
However, he does appear to lack power as a heavyweight and has only had one stoppage win in his last four fights.
The only stoppage in his heavyweight career was against Chazz Withersoon, and he outpointed Derek Chisora before two wins against Anthony Joshua to claim the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts.
The fight that everyone out there has been calling for was for him to meet the WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury for the undisputed heavyweight championship, but after contracted negotiations the fight never took place, and he was obliged to meet the mandatory challenger Dubois.
Usyk has all the techniques but is smaller and lighter than the big and strong Dubois (19-1; 18) with his massive right-hand power.
However, he nearly lost his secondary WBA belt to South Africa’s Kevin Lerena a cruiserweight turned heavyweight after being down three times but came back to stop Lerena in the third round after three knockdowns.
The only loss the 25-year-old Dubois has suffered was against a quality opponent in Joe Joyce, three years ago.
Most of the odds makers are favouring Usyk to win over the long route.
This is possibly Dubois’s best opponent and his only hope is a puncher’s chance.