There are some things in life a person will try once only to vow never to try again: childbirth, marriage, a marathon, a mind-altering drug, shoplifting, skydiving, a fist fight, a suicide attempt, love.
There are then things in life a person will try and later decide to try again: childbirth, marriage, a marathon, a mind-altering drug, shoplifting, skydiving, a fist fight, a suicide attempt, love.
In boxing, you would imagine that time spent in the company of Oleksandr Usyk would be deemed a one-night-only experience. However, because the Ukrainian is such a puzzle, and because human beings are predisposed to think they can fix either things or other people, there is forever a sense that somebody at some point will be able to solve this puzzle and defeat the great southpaw. As a result, both of this belief and Usyk’s current status in the heavyweight division, you have a growing queue to fight him. Few in the queue appear equipped, for now, to actually beat Usyk, but that won’t stop them believing, nor is it enough to prevent them getting in line and waiting their turn.
One new addition to this queue arrived on Saturday at Wembley Stadium. This man, like one or two others, has already shared a ring with Usyk and therefore knows exactly what is required to beat him and how far short he falls of this requirement. That man, of course, is Britain’s Daniel Dubois, who stopped Anthony Joshua in impressive fashion with a short right hand in front of 96,000 fans at the weekend. As merciless as it was measured, that performance spoke highly of Dubois’ recent improvements and announced his arrival as one of the very best heavyweights in the world. It also built on previous wins against Jarrell Miller and Filip Hrgovic and showed the rate of his development since losing against Usyk in nine rounds last August.
That night, against Usyk, he was sent to school, as so many Usyk opponents are, and would find “success” – if one can call it that – only in round five, when a low blow had Usyk writhing on the canvas for several minutes. This shot had no real bearing on the fight, of course, nor spoiled Usyk’s lesson, but now, 13 months later, it is being used as proof that these two men, Usyk and Dubois, should meet again. To rely on stoppage wins against Miller, Hrgovic and now Joshua is seemingly not enough for a rematch with Usyk to make any sense. Yet where there is controversy in boxing, there is a case, and Dubois and his team certainly believe they have one of those.
In fairness, they felt they had a case at the time and made quite the song and dance about the incident; both during the fight and particularly after it when Dubois had lost. Low or not, the contentious nature of that moment in round five allowed those involved to take the narrative and twist it however they saw fit. With Dubois and his team, that meant painting a different picture from the one we had all witnessed in Poland that August. It meant exaggerating the success Dubois had in the fight, both prior to that flashpoint and after it, and also asking the question: “If, as we believe, it wasn’t a low blow, did Daniel Dubois essentially knock out Oleksandr Usyk in round five?”
Undoubtedly, if the blow was not low, that is true and a fair reading of things. Usyk, after all, was on the canvas for a lot longer than 10 seconds and appeared in more physical pain as a result of that Dubois shot than we have ever seen him in before. He was hurt by it, of that there is no question, but that still doesn’t mean the shot was legitimate, nor does it mean that a low-blow controversy should be enough to bring together two fighters not yet proven to be equals for a second fight.
The last time this happened in the career of Usyk we were left with a similar feeling and the same question: Why? On that occasion it was Anthony Joshua chasing Usyk for a rematch, a contracted one, and on that occasion, too, there was perhaps more of an argument for it, purely because Joshua was the champion Usyk had dethroned and because he had, in the process, at least managed to last 12 rounds. That he won very few of those 12 rounds was beside the point. Joshua wanted the rematch and he felt he would do better second time around.
As it turned out, this was both true and ultimately irrelevant. It was true that Joshua did marginally better in the pair’s rematch, even hurting Usyk in the ninth round, but there remained a sense throughout that Usyk was always the one in control, both of the tempo of the fight and the opponent in front of him. By the end of it all, in fact, it had just been more of the same. Usyk had been given the chance to rubber-stamp his superiority, while Joshua had returned to a place of trauma and gone through it all again, this time magnifying his insecurities and self-destructive beliefs. It was therefore no surprise really when Joshua took the mic in the aftermath and expressed too much of himself to a global audience. He had, in many ways, been exposed twice in one night: first by Usyk, then by his demons.
The next British heavyweight to try again with Usyk will be Tyson Fury on December 21. He fared better than both Joshua and Dubois when boxing Usyk in May, but still, like Joshua and Dubois, couldn’t suss the former cruiserweight champion out. Down in round nine, Fury’s big win in the end was making it to the final bell, the sound of which would have come as not only a relief but a reminder that a rematch was on the table. Had it not come, that sound, and had Fury been stopped in the ninth, any clamour for a sequel would have been significantly and justifiably reduced.
As it is, because Fury had a decent spell early, and because he is a man with certain physical advantages, a rematch with Usyk matters and will be of interest when it arrives. It is clearly more intriguing than Usyk vs. Joshua II and the same can be said for a rematch between Usyk and Daniel Dubois, despite the strides Dubois has made. Truth is, Usyk vs. Fury II is still a clash between the two best heavyweights in the world and nothing we have seen produced by the others since their first meeting has changed that.
Even Dubois, as good as he looked on Saturday, is not yet on that same level. In fact, given his age (27), and recent form, it would almost be a shame if he was rushed back to that sort of level when he is progressing so well. “I want to get my rematch (against Usyk),” Dubois said after beating Joshua, “and to put the wrong right.”
Meanwhile, Usyk’s promoter Alexander Krassyuk, speaking to Sky Sports, said, “You never know, but why not? Some people had questions regarding the (first) fight. There was one moment in the fight which left some issues regarding the low blow. Why not if Dubois is still ready to go? Double undisputed, triple undisputed? Come on, this is history in the making.”
To chase Oleksandr Usyk off the back of three big wins is a testament to Daniel Dubois’ ambition and desire to test himself and for that he should only be applauded. Yet there is an argument to be made, too, that the very thing that has heavyweights believing they will be the one to dethrone Usyk – his age: 37 – should be the very thing that Dubois and his team keep in mind as a reason to maybe wait. After all, with Dubois 10 years Usyk’s junior and currently in a rich vein of form, there is every chance Dubois could be the man to take over in the next year or so without having to risk experiencing what Anthony Joshua experienced in the company of Usyk in Saudi Arabia. That is to say, at a time when his self-belief has never been greater, maybe the last thing Daniel Dubois needs is to be put back in his place and reminded all over again of the flaws he has in recent fights been able to hide with concealer. Maybe true success in boxing is a by-product of timing; that is, skipping the wrong fights and taking the right ones. This is typically the ethos of most boxers on the way up, when avoidance is often the name of the game, and it only changes, this approach, when big money finds its way onto the table and a boxer becomes surrounded by men ready and willing to share it. It is then a boxer hears only what they want to hear and what their team feels they need to hear. It is then that even a low blow can become a knockout punch. It is then that even defeat can become a victory.
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