With Daniel Dubois calling out Oleksandr Usyk, who is Usyk’s most viable challenger?
Tris Dixon: Probably the winner of the February 22 match between Dubois and Joseph Parker. But the likes of Agit Kabayel and Martin Bakole will want their shots next year, should they win their respective bouts in the interim.
Kieran Mulvaney: The only genuinely intriguing matchup at present is Dubois, because of the circumstances of their first fight. Should Parker beat Dubois, he will have earned the right to challenge the Ukrainian, but he’d be a big underdog. If Deontay Wilder’s career hadn’t fallen off a cliff, a matchup between Usyk and the crude but free-swinging former titleholder would have been fun.
Bernard Neequaye: It’s obvious boxing fans are only interested in seeing Usyk fight Daniel Dubois next in a rematch of their fight last year. But Dubois must earn it by beating Joseph Parker in February 2025. I believe this is the perfect opportunity for Dubois to avenge his painful defeat in the first fight, but it will be a tall order for the Brit. Dubois will definitely be the underdog going into the fight, but with his improved performance against Anthony Joshua, I’m confident he poses a real threat to Usyk.
Matt Christie: The most deserving is Joseph Parker, but he’ll now need to get through Dubois to get his chance. Certainly, the winner of that bout will have earned their spot. Zhilei Zhang and Agit Kabayel are set to collide in another eliminator, as are Martin Bakole and Efe Ajagba, with the victors being additional viable challengers.
Lucas Ketelle: Usyk at this point is an all-time great heavyweight and cruiserweight – who doesn’t get the praise of his achievements. Whatever he wants to do is just extra on a first-ballot hall-of-fame career. What would be amazing is if he kept it old-school and fought the next generation of fighters. That would include Moses Itauma, Martin Bakole, Agit Kabayel. Does he have to? Nah. There is also the winner of Daniel Dubois-Joseph Parker for Dubois’ IBF title. The winner of that fight is a big marquee name, which fits the allure of Usyk’s stature in the sport. Just like his fighting style, it’s hard to predict what Usyk will do. I thought he’d retire after the fight, but he seems content to make more fights. Go figure.
Declan Warrington: The winner of Dubois-Joseph Parker. If it’s Dubois, it won’t just be a fight for the undisputed title (even though it’s farcical Usyk isn’t still the undisputed champion anyway); there’s a “narrative” that can be built from their first fight. But unless Usyk dramatically and unexpectedly declines, he’d beat Dubois even more convincingly than he did the first time around, and he’d convincingly defeat Parker, too.
Elliot Worsell: I think that were it not for Riyadh Season and all that Saudi cash, Usyk would probably be tempted to call it a day and retire on top. There is, on the face of it, nothing really left for him to achieve or do. Fighting Dubois again isn’t interesting and does nothing for his legacy, and the same can be said for Parker (if he beats Dubois when they meet). Bakole and Kabayel are at least new names at this kind of level, but everything Usyk does from this point on will be considered something of an anticlimax.
Owen Lewis: Stock answer: Dubois. He’s been on a heater lately and hits like a mule. I think the world of Usyk and his achievements, and for all the greatness of the heavyweights gone by, my guess is that we’ll rank Usyk higher among them a couple years into the future than we are now. But the image running through my head when I picture this rematch is Dubois catching an Usyk who has finally started to decline significantly with a huge shot and knocking him out.
Real answer: The pull all fighters feel to boxing. As others have pointed out, there’s little of note for Usyk to achieve anymore, yet he is intent on fighting onward. I doubt beating Dubois for a second time is the crowning accomplishment that finally makes Usyk content to walk away, so the real battle will be eventually breaking up with the sport that has given him so much before more accumulated blows to the head take back something vital.
Jason Langendorf: The WWE-style post-fight climb into the ring and mic grab by a hopeful challenger who happened to get a comped front-row seat has become a goofy trope and a legitimate thunder-stealer. Usyk deserved to bask in his moment without Dubois crashing it to serve his own purposes. And yet Dubois is the right call. Fury and Anthony Joshua have both had their cracks at Usyk, and all other qualified heavyweights are now at different points in their career. Let Dubois have one more go at Usyk before he slides back down the scale to cruiserweight.
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