Latest news with #DanielDubois
The Australian
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Australian
Usyk KOs Dubois in fifth round to claim undisputed heavyweight crown
Oleksandr Usyk cemented his status as the outstanding heavyweight of his generation with an emphatic fifth-round knockout of Daniel Dubois in their undisputed world title bout. Oleksandr Usyk cemented his status as the outstanding heavyweight of his generation with an emphatic fifth-round knockout of Daniel Dubois in their undisputed world title bout at London's Wembley Stadium on Saturday. Victory saw Ukraine's Usyk extend his unbeaten professional record to 24 fights as the WBA, WBC and WBO champion added his British opponent's IBF belt to his collection. Usyk, now a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion — and three times in all after previously mastering the cruiserweight division — dominated the opening four rounds. And early in the fifth he dropped Dubois to the canvas. Moments later he finished the fight in decisive fashion after a trademark left hook left his British rival unable to beat the count one minute and 52 seconds into the round. LIVE BLOG: Tim Tszyu v Sebastian Fundora It was the second time Usyk, at 38 some 11 years older than his opponent, had defeated Dubois following a ninth-round stoppage success in Krakow, Poland, in 2023, where the Briton was ruled to have landed an illegal low blow in the fifth round. Lennox Lewis, the last British boxer to be undisputed world champion in 1999, forecast before Saturday's fight that Usyk would face a vastly-improved Dubois, saying: 'Dubois was a baby in the sport and now he's a man … You're not going to see the same Daniel Dubois from 18 months ago.' But after Usyk was roared into the ring by a huge contingent of supporters, many of them waving Ukraine national flags in a 90,000 capacity crowd at Wembley, best known as the London base of England's national football team, it was largely one-way traffic as their hero conducted a ruthless masterclass against local favourite Dubois. — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Ð'олодимир ЗеленÑьаий (@ZelenskyyUa) July 19, 2025 '38 is a young guy, remember!,' Usyk told DAZN in the ring after dropping to his knees in celebration. '38 is only start! 'I want to say thank you to Jesus Christ. I want to say thank you to my team and Wembley, thank you so much! It's for the people. 'Nothing is next. It's enough, next, I don't know. I want to rest. My family, my wife, my children, I want to rest now. Two or three months, I want to just rest.' – 'Modern-day legend' Asked about his next opponent Usyk, who has already twice beaten former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, added: 'Maybe it's Tyson Fury. Maybe we have three choices, Derek Chisora and Anthony Joshua. Maybe Joseph Parker. Listen, I cannot now say because I want to go back home.' Dubois insisted he would return to the ring, saying: 'I have to commend him (Usyk) on the performance, I gave everything I had. Take no credit away from that man, I'll be back.' His trainer, Don Charles, added: 'We tried to get going, Dubois is a young champion … He will be back stronger. If you're going to lose, lose to someone like Usyk.' And promoter Frank Warren, a veteran of the British boxing scene, said: 'Usyk is a modern-day legend. In any generation he would be a great fighter. No complaints, the better man won on the night. 'It's Joe Parker's time.' Usyk, meanwhile, basked in the adulation following the latest dazzling victory of a career that has seen him emerge as a national hero in his war-torn homeland. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky was among the first to congratulate Usyk on his victory. 'An undisputed champion. A legend. One of our own,' Zelensky wrote on X. 'Thank you for the strength and inspiration you give to the whole country with every victory. Thank you for stepping into each fight with Ukraine in your heart.' Combat Sport Nikita Tszyu has slammed critics of his brother Tim's Las Vegas defeat, revealing the truth about how the fight ended – while defending the family's boxing legacy. Combat Sport Anthony Mundine was an NRL and boxing legend. Now 'The Man' is leading a bare-knuckle fighting revolution in Australia — and says it can be just as big as UFC.
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Anthony Joshua drops retirement bombshell with 'final' message
The British star - who is hoping to return before the end of the year - has not fought since suffering a brutal defeat to Daniel Dubois last year Anthony Joshua has hinted that 2025 could be his final year as a professional boxer. The British boxing star has not fought since last September and is set to return to the ring before the end of the year. Joshua suffered an agonising knockout defeat to Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium. It looked likely that the pair would face off in an immediate rematch, but 'AJ' suffered some minor injuries in the initial encounter which meant he needed more time to recover. The 35-year-old has recently undergone a successful operation on his elbow amid talks of a potential return to the ring over the next few months. There has been plenty of talk as to who Joshua's opponent will be, but as of yet, nothing has been officially confirmed. While there are still many intriguing match-ups for the Brit, Joshua has sensationally admitted that this year could be his last as a boxer. The two-time heavyweight world champion paid tribute to his promotional team Matchroom Boxing - who have managed him since his professional debut in 2013 - on Friday night, stating that his 'last punch' will be thrown this year. "Shout to Matchroom Boxing for all you have done for me and continue to do for me," Joshua wrote. "Long may you reign supreme and keep giving fighters opportunities to become champions and make boxing great. 12 years ago, I signed with you and 12 years later I will throw my last punch with you. "Royalty and loyalty is a perfect match for the great good. A toast to another 100 years of Matchroom Boxing And to finish on this… If I could start from scratch, I wouldn't change s***." Joshua's comments come just weeks after his promoter, Eddie Hearn, revealed that his star client is targeting two fights with Tyson Fury before calling it a day at the end of 2026. Speaking on the Ariel Helwani Show, he said: " Dillian Whyte was probably the frontrunner, to be honest with you. Now it looks like he's going to fight Moses - so that was a curveball. Jared Anderson's been mentioned, obviously Deontay Wilder's back soon. I think AJ would have been out the ring just over a year by the time he steps back into the ring. He will be coming off surgery, I don't think (Tyson) Fury's going to be ready to fight around that time anyway. But I expect it to be someone to gear him up for a really big fight in 2026. And probably, 2026 will be his last year in the sport." He added: "It's probably three fights away. For me, if I'm advising AJ, we're back this year, we have two Tyson Fury fights, what else is there to do? Maybe fight a Daniel Dubois, but for me once AJ fights Tyson Fury, he's kind of done it all. I'd love him to have another crack at Daniel Dubois and I'd love him to have another crack at Usyk but you just keep going on and on and on. Now, if we get to next year and he's still firing on all cylinders then 2026 won't be his last year. But for me, something feels right about coming back this year, beating Tyson Fury twice and then sailing off into the sunset." When is Anthony Joshua's next fight? Joshua is expected to make his return to the ring before the end of the year. Eddie Hearn has recently revealed that 'AJ' is now looking to move on with his career after continuously calling for a fight with Fury, but still hopes to one day settle the score with the 'Gypsy King' before calling it a day. In an interview with Sky Sports, when asked about the future of Joshua, Hearn replied: "Yeah, good, he had that operation recently... that elbow surgery, which went very well. You will see him return in October, November or December. We're looking for that opponent in the top ten. Deontay Wilder I think fights next week.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Oleksandr Usyk is the best fighter of his generation — even if he doesn't believe so himself
Oleksandr Usyk stood in the center of the ring and snarled. This wasn't the charming and familiar gap-toothed grin we've become accustomed to from the affable Ukrainian over the past decade, but rather a warning sign to his latest foe, Daniel Dubois. In that mid-round moment last Saturday, Usyk's mouthpiece camouflaged his magnetic personality. It's strictly business in the heat of battle — and the 38-year-old has endured enough of that throughout his life and career to know how to adapt and overcome. It was as if the front-footed, aggressive advances of Dubois (22-3, 21 KOs) tweaked the settings of Usyk's internal motherboard. No longer was it safe — nor sensible — for the unified heavyweight champion to use his fleet-footed craft and wizardry to slay one of the biggest punchers in the heavyweight division. Instead, Usyk would have to trade heavy artillery with the Briton. 'Don't punch with a puncher,' they say — but when you possess the infinite tool box the Ukrainian does, catchphrases and slogans aren't worth the paper they are written on. As soon as that switch was flicked, it was game over. Usyk wound up landing a devastating left hook and conquered Dubois for a second time in two years, and, in doing so, he rubber-stamped his position as a generational great in the sport. Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) has now come as close to perfecting his art as possible. A mere glance into the trophy cabinet of the decorated champion will find gold medals from the European Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games, alongside undisputed status as a professional in both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions — the latter now being completed twice, thanks to the political tug of war among the four major sanctioning bodies. And if these accolades weren't proof enough, Usyk has achieved them against a plethora of fighting styles, ranging between the weight classes with the biggest gulf in size — and doing so with variation, adaptation and aplomb. Since winning his first world title in 2016, Usyk has bested big, concussive punchers in the likes of Murat Gassiev, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois, routing the former and stopping the latter two twice. He has traveled to the backyards of technicians in Mairis Briedis and Michael Hunter, bamboozling them with skill, yet sitting down on his punches when required, reading the perfect fight and knowing when to put his foot on the gas through tricky periods. He has sent Tony Bellew into retirement and wounded Tyson Fury, making him question his future in the sport, twice, after back-to-back wins in Saudi Arabia. He has snatched five unbeaten records in world title fights, going 13-0 in championship bouts, and has done so fighting away from his beloved home nation of Ukraine since 2015, as well as coping with the emotional toil of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The list goes on, but Usyk's career won't. He will turn 39 in January and, if he is to be believed, then perhaps we'll only see him grace a boxing ring one more time before hanging up his gloves for good. Talk of whom that final foe might be — Joseph Parker, Agit Kabayel, Derek Chisora and Jake Paul will all argue their corners — can and should wait, for now. 'I'm not the best fighter in the world,' Usyk stated before becoming a three-time undisputed champion this past weekend. 'That is Terence Crawford.' Usyk was lying — or perhaps being modest to a fault. There is an anti-recency bias in sport — maybe none more so than in boxing. We are often afraid to compare active fighters positively against those who have their names deeply imprinted in the sport's history. There's a perception that in doing so, you are automatically siding with modernity; shunning the legacies and showing a lack of knowledge and understanding of past greats. Usyk may well be considered on the smaller side of the modern day heavyweights, but standing 6-foot-3, he scales the same height as Muhammad Ali — and there should be no question the Ukrainian would prove a handful for any of the best heavyweights who dominated their own decades. The likes of Ali, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Larry Holmes, George Foreman, Lennox Lewis, Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, etc., now have a new name jostling for position in the all-time standings. 'I want a rest,' Usyk stated in the post-fight press conference. 'I want to be at home with my family, my wife and my children. I want to rest for maybe two, three months.' Whatever is next will be Usyk's decision and Usyk's decision only. He has fought with the hearts of a nation weighing heavily on his shoulders and has had his hand raised on every single occasion. There will be a moment when he looks in the mirror and asks himself what he has left to give — or perhaps to prove. 'I don't have motivation. I have discipline,' he continued. 'Motivation? It's temporary. Today, for example, you have motivation. But tomorrow you wake up early and you don't have motivation.' 'Thirty-eight is a young guy, remember!' he then exclaimed, with the trademark twinkle in his eye. But how long does discipline last? Ideally, not so long that Usyk is beaten by the only opponent who will have his number: Father Time.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Sport
- The Independent
What's next for Daniel Dubois if he beats Oleksandr Usyk at Wembley?
Daniel Dubois is ready to enter himself into the pantheon of great British heavyweight champions by dethroning the 'Brit basher' Oleksandr Usyk at Wembley on Saturday night. The IBF champion has resurrected his career since losing to Usyk in 2023, claiming his career-best wins against Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and a brutal knockout of Anthony Joshua. If Dubois can cause one of the biggest upsets of the year on Saturday, he will have the world at his feet at just 27 years old and be the first British undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis. But where does he go from there? As the trailblazer for the next generation of heavyweight contenders, he will have his pick of the bunch. Usyk trilogy If Dubois can exact his revenge against the odds and beat Usyk, a trilogy fight is the perfect way to complete his Hollywood-esque career resurgence. This would be close to the top of the list for Dubois, the opportunity to settle the rivalry and for 'Dynamite' to assert himself as the best heavyweight in the world. To beat Usyk twice when the likes of Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have both fallen short twice would be a special achievement. Dubois hasn't spoken on the possibility of a trilogy, but there is no doubt it would be a monumental event and a fitting conclusion to the tapestry of the Usyk vs Dubois rivalry. Joseph Parker To not include Parker in this list would be a misstatement of the facts. As confirmed by Frank Warren, Joseph Parker is the next in line for a shot at heavyweight gold. This would be a fight that is easy to make as both Parker and Dubois are in the Queensberry stable of fighters, so there would be no negotiation trouble, and the fight could be made at the drop of a hat. Parker, however, speaking to Seconds Out, didn't like his chances of getting a world title shot any time soon. Parker said: 'There's so many options that could happen after this fight. There could be a rematch clause, the belt could be vacated, they could be wanting to fight someone else.' Dubois was initially scheduled to fight Parker to defend his upgraded IBF title on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol 2 in February. Pulling out a couple of days before fight night, Dubois was accused by some of ducking the fight with Parker to set up the fight rematch with Usyk instead. Parker wants the opportunity to get back at Dubois for denying him the opportunity to fight for a world title. Parker said: 'I do want to get at Dubois, I think he is a young, hungry fighter. He's getting better and better. But I do want to test myself against this young man who denied me the chance [at a world title].' Both men will feel they have unfinished business with the other if they were to fight. Anthony Joshua rematch An unforgettable night at Wembley saw Daniel Dubois announce himself as the next generation of heavyweight champions, savagely knocking out Anthony Joshua to set up the rematch with Usyk. It was initially expected that Joshua would take an immediate rematch with Dubois, but it never materialised. Joshua was forced to have surgery on an elbow injury, which wrote him off in regards to an immediate rematch. Speaking after Bivol had defeated Beterbiev in the rematch, Eddie Hearn said the fight Joshua wanted most for his comeback was the rematch with Dubois. Hearn said: 'The right thing to do would be to rematch Daniel Dubois. I think that's what he would like to do. To have another shot at the world heavyweight championship.' If Dubois comes through his rematch with Usyk, then he will certainly be on Joshua's radar as the former unified champion has ambitions of joining the exclusive club of fighters that are three-time heavyweight champions. Whether or not Joshua will be on Dubois's radar remains to be seen after Saturday. The next generation If this rematch is to signal a passing of the torch from the generation of Fury, Joshua and Usyk to Dubois, then, as the new king of the division, the Brit will have a long line of young and hungry fighters vying for a shot at his crown. Alongside Parker as the mandatory challenger for the WBO, three other heavyweights are also in the mix for a title shot and with the bureaucracy of boxing, any one of them could be next. Agit Kabayel has come up the hard way to claim his WBC interim title by earning victories over much larger and well-respected opponents including Arslanbek Makhmudov, Frank Sanchez and Zhilei Zhang. As interim champion, he is at the front of the queue when the time for the WBC mandatory challenger comes. One of the brightest young British prospects, Moses Itauma, is also lurking in the heavyweight rankings. He is number one with the WBO, number two with the WBA and number six with the IBF. He will first have to get through the toughest test of his career against the former world title challenger and veteran heavyweight, Dillian Whyte, on August 16. Saturday's chief support is former cruiserweight world champion, Lawrence Okolie, fighting Kevin Lerena in his second heavyweight fight and he currently sits as the number one ranked contender with the WBC. The pair have shared hundreds of rounds of sparring, and a fight between them would carry a lot of history with it. Watch Usyk versus Dubois 2 live and exclusive on DAZN PPV this Saturday - July 19 - for £24.99 UK; $59.99 US; $19.99/equivalent ROW. Buy the PPV now here.
Straits Times
7 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Boxing-WBO orders negotiations for heavyweight bout between Usyk and Parker
Find out what's new on ST website and app. FILE PHOTO: Boxing - Oleksandr Usyk v Daniel Dubois - Undisputed World Heavyweight Title - BoxPark Wembley, London, Britain - July 19, 2025 Oleksandr Usyk during the press conference after winning the fight against Daniel Dubois Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers/File Photo The WBO has ordered negotiations for a bout between its interim heavyweight champion Joseph Parker and the unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, the ruling body said on Thursday. Both parties have 30 days to agree terms for a mandatory defence of Usyk's title, and if they fail to do so the WBO will open a purse bid. "The minimum bid in the Heavyweight division is one million dollars... any of the parties herein may request purse bid proceedings at any time during negotiation stages," the WBO said in a statement. Usyk has held the WBO belt since 2021 when he won it from Anthony Joshua along with the WBA and IBF titles, and has defended it four times, also taking the WBC belt from Tyson Fury to become the unified champion. The undefeated Ukrainian vacated the IBF belt last year after opting not to face the sanctioning body's interim champion Daniel Dubois in favour of a rematch with Fury, which he won by unanimous decision in December. Usyk, 38, knocked out Dubois on Saturday to regain the IBF belt and undisputed status. New Zealand's Parker won the interim WBO championship last year in a majority decision over Zhilei Zhang. He defended it in February, knocking out Martin Bakole. REUTERS Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Asia 11 Thai civilians killed as Thai and Cambodian militaries clash at disputed border: Reports Asia Deadly Thai-Cambodian dispute puts Asean's relevance on the line Asia Live: People evacuated from border regions amid deadly Thailand-Cambodia clash Singapore Technology can help efforts to shift healthcare delivery towards the community: Ong Ye Kung Singapore Mice industry will need more manpower in areas like technology, sustainability: Alvin Tan Singapore Khatib Camp to make way for housing, with its functions moving to Amoy Quee Camp Singapore Mindef to set up new volunteer management unit to grow volunteer pool Singapore Primary 1 registration: 29 schools to conduct ballot in Phase 2B
