Unified heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk is backing Anthony Joshua to beat Daniel Dubois when the pair fight for the IBF title on September 21 in London, England.
Dubois (21-2-0 20 KO) will make the first defense of his IBF world title when he takes on Joshua (28-3-0 25 KO) at Wembley Stadium in the headline bout of Riyadh Season’s debut card in the UK.
‘Dynamite’ was elevated from interim to full world champion after Usyk decided to vacate the title ahead of his rematch with Tyson Fury in December. The Ukrainian became the first undisputed heavyweight world champion of the four-belt era in May when he defeated Fury in a thrilling split decision in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
However, the rematch with Fury has prevented Usyk from facing mandatory challenger Dubois, who earned the interim title by stopping Filip Hrgovic in June, leading the former undisputed cruiserweight champion to vacate the title before the IBF stripped him of it.
Usyk is perhaps better placed than anyone to provide a prediction for this fight having fought both men. He delivered a masterclass to defeat Joshua on points in September 2021 and become the WBA, IBF, and WBO world champion, and beat AJ again in the immediate rematch 11 months later by split decision. Usyk then followed that up by stopping Dubois in the ninth round in August last year.
Usyk Predicts A Joshua Victory
“I think it’s AJ,” Usyk said in an interview with Sky Sports. “I respect both of these guys, but I predict Anthony.”
By beating Fury, Usyk became only the third male fighter to become a four-belt undisputed world champion in two divisions after Terence Crawford (light-welterweight and welterweight) and Naoya Inoue (bantamweight and super-bantamweight).
Usyk’s reign hasn’t lasted long, but instead of being disappointed by not having all four belts in his possession, the Ukrainian believes it’s a good thing to have more than one world champion.
“It’s good. IBF does not take my belt, I give my belt for Anthony Joshua and Dubois,” he said. “Because for me, it’s important that my sport, boxing develops.
“But if I take four belts, OK, what? I have four. I must defend IBF. Now it’s not possible because we have rematch. OK, no problem. It’s good when different sportsmen have belts. For me, it’s good. For boxing, it’s great.”
Fury To Support Dubois
While Usyk is backing Joshua, it appears Fury will be supporting Dubois on fight night. The former lineal and unified world champion, who lost the WBC title to Usyk in his first career defeat, is expected to be ringside at Wembley Stadium.
Fury and Joshua have had a long-standing rivalry and were scheduled to fight each other in August 2021, only for a judge to rule that Fury had to face Deontay Wilder in a trilogy bout. Since then, there has been plenty of back and forth, but as yet no fight.
A victory for Joshua could finally lead to a bout with Fury, although the Gypsy King’s manager Spencer Brown believes his client will be rooting for Dubois.
“I think he’s a good friend of Daniel Dubois and obviously he’s in that [same] promotional company (Queensberry). But I think Tyson just wants to see a good fight. Who will he back? Probably Daniel Dubois,” Brown said last week.
However, none of that will matter, Brown said, if Fury loses his rematch with Usyk, adding: “I think that we need to get this one out the way. There’s no collision course [with Joshua] if he doesn’t win the next fight. So it’s imperative he beats Usyk.”
