Dubois vows to come back after Usyk defeat
Daniel Dubois acknowledged his best was not good enough after his undisputed world heavyweight dreams went up in smoke with a fifth-round stoppage loss at Wembley thanks to Oleksandr Usyk’s “Ivan” punch.
Usyk had shown his class against the 27-year-old from London during a one-sided contest in Krakow in 2023, where Dubois was adjudged to have landed an illegal low blow in round five, but the Ukrainian had been warned throughout fight week to expect a “different” opponent this time.
Yet, Usyk (24-0, 15KOs) proved too strong for Dubois (22-3, 21KOs) once again.
After the former undisputed cruiserweight champion had got the better of the opening four rounds, he produced a masterful fifth-round finish to further cement his status as one of the sport’s all-time greats.
After Dubois was put down by a powerful right punch, the British boxer bravely made it back to his feet.
He was floored again a matter of seconds later by a huge left hit to taste defeat for a third time in his professional career.
It earned Usyk his 24th win and a seventh in a row against fighters from this country to ensure he got his hands back on the IBF title to add to his WBA, WBO and WBC belts as he became undisputed in the blue riband division for a second time.
Dubois said: “I have to commend him on his performance. I gave everything I had, probably a few things I could have sharpened up on, but take no credit away from the man.
“I was just fighting, I was in a fight and trying to pick up round by round. It is what it is, but I’ll be back.
“I want to thank everyone for coming out. I gave my best, we’ll go back to the drawing board and come again.”
— independent
