‘It’s Going to Be a Dirty Fight’

REMATCH: Brits hopeful Daniel Dubois tries one more time to find a way past undefeated WBA (Super), WBO and WBC champion Aleksandra Usyk

By Sports Reporter

Confidence, maturity and chaos. Those three words have been uttered more than any other by Daniel Dubois and those who surround him during fight week.

Dubois is gearing up for what he hopes will be his crowning moment when he faces Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.

Just shy of two years ago, IBF champion Dubois dared to dream when he travelled to Poland, but came up short in a ninth-round defeat against Usyk.

Dubois has gone back to the drawing board, rebuilding his career with three successive victories, including a stunning knockout win against Anthony Joshua.

Should Dubois find a way past undefeated WBA (Super), WBO and WBC champion Usyk, he will become the first Briton to unify the heavyweight division in the four-belt era and the first to become undisputed on home soil.

Many – 21 to be exact – have tried to crack the code that is Usyk but all have come up short.

What happened in the first fight?

Simply put, Usyk was too good. The Ukrainian came out on top in almost every metric.

Of the 359 punches thrown by Usyk until the fight ended one minute and 48 seconds into round nine, he landed with 24.5% accuracy. Dubois threw 290 punches with just 16.2% of those finding the target.

Despite losing the contest, Dubois and his team left Poland feeling a sense of injustice. Usyk was floored in the fifth round but it was deemed to be a low blow and the 38-year-old was given almost four minutes to recover.

That punch landed just 22 seconds into the round and when the action resumed Usyk came on strong, with two of the three judges scoring it in his favour.

Could Dubois target the body?

Dubois’ trainer Don Charles made reference to the low blow when the fighters met at a news conference before their rematch in April.

Charles accused Usyk of “conning the referee” and said he “should be given an Oscar for that performance”. Usyk told BBC Sport: “It’s just blah, blah, blah – empty words.”

Usyk even made light of it during his open workout at BoxPark Wembley on Wednesday – allowing his training partners to repeatedly hit him in the stomach with foam sticks.

Dubois linked up with trainer Charles for the first meeting with Usyk and they’ve forged a strong bond in the past two years.

They have worked together across four fights and six camps.

“Dubois is going to get warned for using his shoulder and forearm to push Usyk back. It’s going to be a dirty fight.”