Oleksandr Usyk is scheduled to defend his heavyweight titles against Daniel Dubois on Saturday in Poland.
OLEKSANDR USYK (20-0, 13 KOs)
VS. DANIEL DUBOIS (19-1, 18 KOs)
- Date: Saturday, Aug. 26
- Time: 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT (main event later in show)
- Where: Stadion Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland
- TV/Stream: ESPN+
- Division: Heavyweight (no limit)
- At stake: Usyk’s IBF, WBA and WBO titles
- Odds: Usyk 8-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
- Pound-for-pound: Usyk No. 3
- Also on the card: Denys Berinchyk vs. Anthony Yigit, lightweights; Hamzah Sheeraz vs. Dmytro Mytrofanov, middleweights
- Prediction: Usyk UD
- Background: Usyk will return to the ring for the first time since he outpointed Anthony Joshua for a second consecutive time last August. The slick southpaw technician from Ukraine, a former 200-pound champion, defeated Joshua by a unanimous decision to become a heavyweight titleholder in September 2021 and then won a split decision in the rematch. He was expected to fight fellow beltholder Tyson Fury for the undisputed championship but they failed to reach an agreement. That fight could happen next year if Usyk beats Dubois and Fury gets past MMA star Francis Ngannou on Oct. 28. Dubois was a highly touted prospect coming out of the amateur ranks. The strapping 25-year-old Londoner won his first 15 pro fights before he was stopped in 10 rounds by another rising heavyweight, Joe Joyce, in November 2020. Dubois couldn’t finish that fight in part because he suffered a broken eye socket. He rebounded to win his next four fights, which set up his first shot at a major title on Saturday. He got up from three first-round knockdowns to stop southpaw Kevin Lerena in the third round of his most-recent outing last December. He’s not as skillful or experienced as Usyk but he’ll have a significant natural size advantage. Dubois, who is 6-foot-5, fights at around 240 pounds while the 6-3 Usyk weighed 221-plus for both fights against Joshua.
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