Latest news with #heavyweightchampion
The Sun
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Kate Scott abruptly tries to end DAZN's coverage of Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois before she's forced into U-turn
KATE SCOTT was caught up in an awkward ending to DAZN's boxing coverage of Oleksandr Usyk's knock out win over Daniel Dubois. The 43-year-old presenter tried to end the show before she appeared to be told in her ear by a producer to make an quick u-turn. 2 Scott chose a bold fashion choice as she fronted up DAZN's coverage of the fight at Wembley Stadium. Scott, previously known as Kate Abdo before her recent marriage to Malik Scott, was front and centre for the broadcast. She was joined on the initial coverage by former two-weight world boxing champion Carl Frampton, who leant his boxing expertise to the show. Boxing icon Lennox Lewis also joined the lineup later in the coverage. Usyk only needed five rounds to knock Dubois out and become undisputed heavyweight champion for the second time. The Ukrainian, 38, knocked Dubois down with a stunning right hook midway through round five. He then wrapped things up with a devastating left hook to the chin of the 27-year-old. Dubois was gunning to avenge his previous loss to Usyk and become the UK's first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUS 2 Essex-based Dubois gave his fans a fright when he didn't arrive at Wembley until around 90 minutes before the opening bell. Fans were also left baffled when the national anthems were sung BEFORE both boxers stepped into the ring Tyson Fury spotted running after Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois as he posts X-rated message to rival VIPS filled the front row ringside seats, including Gordan Ramsey, Frank Bruno, Jason Statham and YouTube boxer Jake Paul. On the night, Paul confirmed he will fight Anthony Joshua in an epic Wembley showdown next year. OLEKSANDR USYK cemented his name in the list of all-time boxing greats as he became a three-time undisputed champion with a fifth round knockout win over Daniel Dubois. Usyk dropped Dubois multiple times as he put any doubts about his first win over the Brit to bed by cementing the repeat and avoiding the revenge. Here, SunSport's Jack Figg gives his round-by-round verdict... ROUND ONE Usyk looks light on his toes, swaying side to side, Dubois plants his feet and walks forward. Stiff jab from Usyk appears to almost wake Dubois up and the Brit responds with a one-two. Usyk searches to the body with a left, blocks a right hand from Dubois and ends the round with a menacing combo. Usyk 10 Dubois 9 ROUND TWO Dubois lunges in with a right hand, Usyk expertly takes half a step back and responds with a counter left. Another right misses from Dubois and he takes a left cross which has him on shaky legs. Already Usyk is finding his rhythm, making Dubois miss and certainty making him pay. Usyk 10 Dubois 9 (Usyk 20 Dubois 18) ROUND THREE Usyk staggers back after a right hand from Dubois - maybe more off balance than hurt. Dubois charges forward with a left hook, right hand but Usyk covers up well. Huge left hook lands on the button from Usyk, sweat sprays off Dubois face. Usyk 10 Dubois 9 (Usyk 30 Dubois 27) ROUND FOUR Right uppercut lands on Usyk's belt-line in a genuine case of dejavu from low-blow gate in their first fight. Dubois traps Usyk in the corner, lands a right but the Ukrainian legend slips off before any troubling damage can be done. Left hand lands for Usyk but Dubois grabs on and closes the distance, smart defence to cap off his best round so far. Usyk 9 Dubois 10 (Usyk 39 Dubois 37) ROUND FIVE Right hook followed by a left hand lands for Usyk has Dubois teetering backwards. Dubois comes forward, charging at Usyk and the two trade off in the corner but DOWN GOES DUBOIS after a counter right hook. He makes it to his feet but is dropped with another left hook and the fight is over! Dubois fails to beat the count and Usyk is once again undisputed heavyweight world champion. Usyk wins by KO
The Sun
19-07-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Kate Scott rocks bold outfit as DAZN presenter stuns in low-cut top for Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois
KATE SCOTT impressed with her presenting and her fashion choices as she fronted up DAZN's coverage of the Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois fight. Scott, previously known as Kate Abdo before her recent marriage to Malik Scott, was front and centre for the broadcast live from Wembley Stadium. 8 8 8 8 8 The experienced presenter and TV star stepped away from her usual gig as one of CBS Sports' Champions League broadcast stars to venture into boxing. Scott, 43, looked smart in front of the backdrop of the mega 90,000 seat venue as she sported a black and gold top, black trousers and some studded heels. While she was joined on the initial coverage by former two-weight world boxing champion Carl Frampton, who leant his boxing expertise to the show. Boxing icon Lennox Lewis also joined the lineup later in the coverage. 8 The trio were ready to bring fans action from a HUGE night of fighting as Usyk and Dubois prepare to do battle for the title of undisputed world heavyweight champion. The bout reignited a rivalry between the pair after Dubois' controversial loss to the Ukrainian back in 2023. The Brit, who currently holds the IBF heavyweight title, will try and pull off a shock win to snatch Usyk's belts away from him in front of a roaring home crowd. Usyk remains strong favourite for the fight given his exceptional form in recent times, including victories over Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. 8 It's not just the main event that will catch the attention of fans either. Lawrence Okolie and Kevin Leren will face off in a battle for Okolie's WBC silver heavyweight title. And Southampton hitter Lewis Edmondson will try and take Daniel Lapin's IBF Intercontinental and WBA Continental light heavyweight titles away from him when the pair trade blows on the undercard. Derek Chisora stunned after finding out about Oleksandr Usyk's outrageous training regime ahead of Daniel Dubois fight 8
The Guardian
19-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Meet the unlikely double act who have found key to unlock real Daniel Dubois
'We understand human psychology because of what we went through rather than going to university to study it,' Don Charles says as he sits alongside his assistant Kieran Farrell on an old church pew in his gym in Hertfordshire. The contrasting trainers explain how their extraordinary back stories have helped them unlock the reclusive and complex character of Daniel Dubois as he aims to beat Oleksandr Usyk and become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night. 'It's true because I've found a second life after I had a bleed on the brain,' Farrell says as the 35-year-old from Manchester remembers the terrible injury he suffered in 2012 when he fought Anthony Crolla. 'I lost 30% of my brain but it's incredible to now be working with Don who knew me when I was boxer.' Charles, a 63-year-old who fought as a child soldier in Biafra during the Nigerian civil war in the late 1960s, nods. 'It's remarkable, Kieran,' he says gently. 'We've endured a lot. I've been through war and worked so many different manual jobs when I came to this country. I then became a florist before running a [security] company successfully for 16 years with 150 men and women on my books. I'd been on the doors [as a bouncer] in the West End and met every kind of human being. That's where I learnt about psychology.' Did he see death as a child in Biafra? 'Hello?' Charles says sadly. 'I used to walk over dead bodies. You'd be playing, and suddenly everyone starts screaming because death in my country is sacred. A child has dropped dead with kwashiorkor [severe malnutrition]. Then the bombs come, with the planes firing indiscriminately at least twice a day. Every household had a bunker, which we dug with our hands, so we could dive into it.' Charles was eight when he became a soldier but he was haunted most by starvation. 'Kwashiorkor is a horrible form of malnutrition where you have skeletal bodies and swollen bellies, big eyes and an alien-looking head. I was very fortunate because my father worked for a bank. So I can relate to children in Gaza today but I can't watch their suffering. It triggers me because I know there's no need for these atrocities. I still have trauma but I haven't had counselling. Every time I speak about it deeply I break down and cry.' Farrell suffered his own trauma. I interviewed him twice in 2013, when he was broken and struggling to cope with brain damage, but the fragile hope he carried then has flowered into a story of resilience and courage as he has helped Charles prepare Dubois to defend his IBF world title and try to take the WBA, WBA and WBO belts from Usyk. Farrell remembers how Spencer Oliver, another former boxer who had also been in a coma, encouraged him. 'Spencer rang me when I couldn't get out of bed. He goes: 'Kieran, you need to open a gym.' I'm thinking: 'It don't work like that. I'm not well enough.' He was like: 'When you feel better, get your slippers on, walk up that road and speak to people about opening a gym.' So I got up and walked to this empty unit at the top of my street. I looked around the unit and all of a sudden my world opened up again. I wanted to start a gym for kids. Since then I've done loads with the community and with homeless people and ADHD kids. I got a British Empire Medal off the queen and that was a massive achievement.' Farrell has also been a boxing promoter, a manager and a trainer and he smiles when I ask how he overcame the loss of nearly a third of his brain after the injury in the Crolla fight. 'I was reading books because I've always been like a driven individual. I've managed 30 fighters and held about 16 professional boxing shows, as a promoter, with just help from my missus, Amy, in Belfast, Manchester, Blackpool and Yorkshire. But there were so many headaches and I love training fighters more.' Charles also eventually became a trainer after years of gritty work. 'In the 1980s I cleaned toilets for Shell Oil for five years while I was paying for my computer studies course at college,' he says. 'I cycled from Streatham to the Shell depot in Wandsworth no matter the weather. I then worked on building sites doing demolition. Any wall you want taken away I'll knock it down with a sledgehammer. I've been a road sweeper and worked in a meat factory in Woolwich – just like Rocky. It's like I've lived 100 years.' As a bouncer Charles 'used diplomacy and psychology', and sometimes his imposing strength, to maintain order. Those first two skillsets have been evident in the way in which he and Farrell work alongside Stan Dubois, whose strong influence over his son had been resisted understandably by some of Daniel's previous trainers. Charles adopted a different approach: 'I heard that Stan could be a very dominant alpha-male but I'm not fazed. I'm the same colour as him, I'm of size. I don't have no insecurities. I have two old church pews in the gym. This one where Kieran and I are sitting, and one over there [he points to a second black pew close to the ring]. I said to Stan on the first day: 'You see that church pew? That's yours.' He always sits there.' Does Stan attend many training sessions? 'Nine times out of 10 he'll be here. Some days he doesn't say a word. Some days he's very vocal to Daniel. Very stern. Daniel's shadow boxing and the dad will give motivational talks. It's bizarre but special. I'm a very deep person and sometimes I feel charged listening to this man, the positive way he's talking. So we're working in a unique way and the good results tell you everything.' Since losing to Usyk in their first fight in August 2023, Dubois has reeled off impressive victories against Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua. The battle against Miller was a real gut-check and the importance of the Dubois family dynamic became obvious. 'Daniel needs to hear his dad,' Charles says. 'The Miller fight triggered it. Me and Frank [Warren, the promoter] realised we need to get Stanley officially in as the fourth ornerman. Watch the Miller fight and you can hear the father's voice regurgitating what we're telling Daniel.' Charles remembers that 'when I first started training Daniel I said to Stan: 'Have you used a sports psychologist?' I know within the black community the word psychologist is frowned upon. But I told Stan all the top sportsmen use one and he agreed to try. It didn't last long but, while he was with us, the psychologist said to me: 'Have you observed that, when you're speaking to Daniel, he will look at his dad before he answers?' Of course I had and he said: 'We'll use this because his dad is a conduit.'' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion There are still bizarre moments and Farrell and Charles laugh as they describe how Stan and 15 of his friends turned his son's dressing room into a party an hour before he beat up Joshua last September. 'This is not normal,' Charles says, 'but we just went with it.' Farrell recalls: 'When Daniel walked to the ring the energy was incredible.' Charles confirms: 'It was very tribal. Stanley Dubois is perceived within the boxing fraternity as this crazy, hard taskmaster. He is – but there's a method to that madness. It turned out to be a genius move as it motivated Daniel.' Farrell believes Dubois 'has grown massively in confidence. From the first time I came in to now, he's two different people.' Charles agrees. 'I love music during training and after a couple of weeks I said: 'Daniel, what music do you like?' He said: 'Whatever my dad plays at home.' I asked: 'Daniel, what's your favourite food?' He said: 'Whatever my dad cooks.' It's a unique relationship. I know his dad likes reggae and soul. So when Daniel comes to training, I put on Al Green, Otis Redding, Bob Marley. Now, every so often, I'm wrapping his hands and he'll ask: 'Can you put on some Bob Marley, please?' He's actually making requests.' The two trainers nearly roll off their pew in amusement when I ask if Daniel and Stan ever ask them about their own amazing lives. 'No,' Charles cackles. 'Don't be silly. Occasionally Daniel will say: 'Everything good, Don?' That's as much as you'll get out of him.' Charles and Farrell first met in 2009 when the teenage boxer travelled from Manchester to London to spar with the trainer's much more experienced fighter Ashley Theophane. Charles recalls the moment: 'This baby-faced young man walked into my gym at Finchley with just a rucksack. I didn't know nothing about him because Ashley had arranged it. I said: 'Where's your coach?' He said: 'I didn't come with one.' I told him: 'No problem. We'll look after you.'' Charles soon discovered that Farrell was a tough pressure fighter. Farrell, in turn, learnt more in a few short sessions than he had done for years in Manchester. Ten years after the near tragedy Farrell suffered in the ring they were happily reunited in late 2023 when they met by chance in Riyadh. And then, with another delicious twist of fate, Farrell's padwork was recommended to Dubois Sr. 'Stan called me,' Charles explains, 'and told me someone had tipped him off about this kid on the pads. He said: 'I'll bring him to the gym tomorrow. Tell me what you think.' Come training hour Daniel and his father walk in – and guess who follows? Kieran – smiling ear to ear. I couldn't believe it. 'Kieran went in the ring with Daniel and, straightaway, he's a natural on the pads. He had everything – speed, aggression, knowledge. And he's not just a pads-man. He's a serious coach and Kieran's very giving too. Daniel's father called me later and I said: 'That's our man.' Stan is a deeply spiritual person, like myself, and he was amazed when I told him I've known Keiran since he was a kid. We have such a connection.' Farrell joined the Dubois camp 15 months ago and Charles says: 'When I watch Kieran with Daniel it's special. Kieran's idea of boxing is the same as mine. Calculated aggression, not gung-ho, using slips and rolls. We have the same ethos, so the fighter is not confused. Kieran does what I do – but faster. Obviously I've got the wiser head but Kieran brings the energy and Daniel responds. We also leave our egos behind and allow the dad's voice to be the one Daniel hears the clearest. It's very unusual but the whole thing works beautifully.'
National Post
24-06-2025
- National Post
UFC great Jon Jones rocked with another criminal charge after sudden retirement
Jon Jones may have been one of the best fighters to ever step inside the octagon, but it's outside of it where the real trouble starts. Article content The controversial UFC heavyweight champion announced his abrupt retirement this past weekend before a report surfaced that he was facing a criminal charge relating to a traffic stop in Albuquerque, N.M., earlier this year. Article content The Albuquerque Journal reported on Saturday that Jones has a criminal summons accusing the 37-year-old of a misdemeanour charge of leaving the scene of an accident in February. Article content Jones has been called to appear for a bond arraignment on July 24. Article content On Monday, Jones' lawyer, Christopher Dodd, fired back at the local police, calling the charge 'strange and unwarranted.' Article content 'As Jon's lawyer,' Dodd told TMZ, 'I am stunned by the Albuquerque Police Department's decision to charge him in this new case. In the thousands of cases I have handled in my career, I have never seen a case as strange and unwarranted as this one.' Article content In the court document, police allege that while investigating a traffic incident they discovered a woman in the passenger seat of a car who had been 'exhibiting signs of significant intoxication and lacking clothing from the waist down.' Article content When questioned, the woman allegedly told officers that Jones was the driver of the vehicle, but had left on foot following the crash. Article content Article content Article content 'Jon was not driving that night, he wasn't in the car,' Dodd told the outlet. 'It appears that an intoxicated woman used a false allegation against Jon to avoid being arrested for DWI and the police fell for it. Article content Article content 'Based on the criminal complaint, it looks like they went so far as to seek a warrant for Jon's cellphone records while conducting a misdemeanour traffic investigation. I have never heard of such a thing.' Article content This is far from Jones' first brush with the law. Article content In 2015, Jones pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident after an incident in which he was alleged to have run a red light, crashing his rental car in a collision involving two other vehicles. Jones allegedly fled the scene on foot, leaving behind an injured pregnant woman in another vehicle. Article content In 2021, Jones was charged with domestic battery – which was later dropped — and tampering with a police vehicle after an alleged incident with his fiancee in Las Vegas.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Oleksandr Usyk in shock split from promoter one month before Daniel Dubois rematch
Just one month before Oleksandr Usyk's rematch with Daniel Dubois, the unified heavyweight champion has split from his promoter Alex Krassyuk in a surprising move. Usyk is scheduled to defend his titles against Dubois, who holds the IBF belt, at Wembley Stadium on 19 July – two years after surviving a controversial low blow to stop the Briton. If Usyk, 38, can defeat Dubois again, he will become a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion, having previously reigned as undisputed cruiserweight champion. But while Krassyuk has been present for all of his compatriot's professional accolades, he will not be there on 19 July. Krassyuk has worked with Usyk for the entirety of the southpaw's professional career, following the boxer's Olympic gold-medal win at London 2012, but he released a statement on Sunday (22 June) to signal the end of their partnership. 'It's been a tremendous journey — 12 years of unbelievable success,' wrote the K2 Promotions chief on Instagram. 'Two young dreamers met each other to change the game. 'Back in 2013, I gave you my word — and I kept it. At the time, no one believed we were capable of achieving what we set out to do. But by the grace of God, we completed the mission impossible. 'Milestones we conquered together: September 2016 – WBO Cruiserweight Champion. January 2018 – WBO and WBC Cruiserweight Champion. July 2018 – Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion. September 2021 – WBO, WBA, and IBF Heavyweight Champion. May 2024 – Undisputed Heavyweight Champion. 'A dream come true!!! Thank you for all we've gone through and for the honor to be the lifetime promoter of the Double Undisputed. May the Lord bless you and guide your next steps. Thanks God for everything.' Usyk last fought in December, outpointing Tyson Fury for the second time in seven months to retain the unified heavyweight titles. In their first fight, last May, Usyk became the division's first undisputed champion in 24 years. After their first bout, he vacated the IBF belt to avoid a mandatory defence and enable a rematch with Fury, meaning interim champion Dubois was elevated to regular champion. Dubois, 27, knocked out Anthony Joshua at Wembley in September to retain the IBF title, before withdrawing from a February defence against Joseph Parker due to illness. Two days later, Parker stopped Dubois's replacement Martin Bakole, but his clash with 'Dynamite' was not reorganised. Instead, Dubois moved on to his upcoming rematch with Usyk, who is undefeated as a pro. In their first bout, in 2023, Usyk climbed off the canvas after a low blow by Dubois, before stopping the Briton in round nine. Dubois's team appealed the result, claiming the low blow was a legal body shot, but to no avail.
