Oleksandr Usyk adds rivals – Kommersant

In the history of the Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk defending the status of the main heavyweight in professional boxing, there has been a new unexpected turn. Following the fight for the title of the absolute world champion, in which Usyk was supposed to meet with Briton Tyson Fury, the duel with Fury’s compatriot Daniel Dubois, who replaced him, may also break. The World Boxing Association (WBA) has already stated that the parties could not reach a compromise on its terms, appointing an auction for the right to host the match. In the event of Dubois’ refusal, the new opponent of the Ukrainian could suddenly become the American Deontay Wilder, who, after two consecutive defeats from Fury, seemed to have dropped out of the championship race.

The World Boxing Association has appointed a competition for the right to organize a fight between the holders of two WBA heavyweight titles. The main one – the super champion – belongs to the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, the second most important – the champion of the “regular” – Briton Daniel Dubois. The auction will take place on May 25 in Houston. The potential organizer of the fight must provide him with a prize fund of at least $1 million, which will be divided in the proportion of 75% to 25% in favor of Usyk.

This news means that Oleksandr Usyk’s career has taken a second unexpected turn in a row. Twice, in 2021 and 2022, having defeated the famous British heavyweight Anthony Joshua, Usyk got three championship belts at once – WBA, International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO), and with them the status, in fact, of the brightest star of the category . No one in the boxing community doubted that this year he would have an even more significant fight than the fights with Joshua, the fight against another Briton – the owner of the World Boxing Council (WBC) title, Tyson Fury, who enjoys tremendous popularity. At stake in it was to be the title of absolute world champion and a fee significantly exceeding $ 100 million for two. However, at the end of March, the parties announced the breakdown of negotiations on this battle that had just seemed almost completed.

The matchup against Daniel Dubois was chosen by the WBA, which is looking to reduce the number of its champions, as a replacement for Oleksandr Usyk’s indefinitely postponed bout with Tyson Fury. However, the purpose of the auction in this case is not a good sign. In boxing, it means that the parties could not reach a compromise on the terms of the fight and, in principle, are not eager to hold it. Actually, the WBA made no secret of the fact that the deadline for reaching such a compromise was May 2. I mean, he’s long gone.

What kind of obstacles arose during the negotiations, the representatives of Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois did not specify. One of them is really obvious. The commercial appeal of Dubois is rather modest. This boxer has not yet had truly “big” fights, and in 2020 he lost to the only elite opponent – compatriot Joe Joyce – by knockout. Daniel Dubois retained the title of regular champion, one might say, by a miracle. Last December, he fought against South African Kevin Lerena and was knocked down three times in the first round. The fight ended with an early victory for Dubois after the third round, but it is unlikely to greatly improve his image and is unlikely to increase interest in him.

Another reason, according to BoxingScene, may be that Daniel Dubois is simply delaying the process of arranging the duel with Oleksandr Usyk, as he is not physically ready for it. The fact is that in the battle against Lerena, he seriously injured his knee.

BoxingScene suggests that if the Dubois option is not implemented, Usyk’s opponent is likely to be IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic of Croatia. However, other media resources much more often mention a different, much more famous surname. This is American Deontay Wilder, who held the WBC belt for half the previous decade and was considered an outstanding boxer in terms of power.

Wilder was let down by his return to the sport after battling various psychological and medical issues with Tyson Fury. They had three fights with each other. In the first, in 2018, a draw was recorded, the next two – in 2020 and 2021 – Fury won by knockout, seemingly throwing the American out of the championship race with no chance to take part in it again. Now, however, the situation seems to have changed dramatically. What’s more, Wilder’s manager Shelly Finkel told Sky Sports that “if Deontay was offered a fight against Oleksandr Usyk, he would certainly be interested in it.”

Alexey Dospekhov