Anthony Joshua will face Daniel Dubois in an all-British heavyweight bout for the IBF world heavyweight title at Wembley Stadium in September.
The more I see and hear about Oleksandr Usyk, the more I like him. He is not only a fantastic boxer, but he also brings a lot of good to our sport.
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Anthony Joshua will face off against Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium
I appreciated his lighthearted donation of the IBF belt, which enabled the Anthony Joshua-Daniel Dubois fight at Wembley. He vacated to make space for the Tyson Fury rematch, of course. Nonetheless, his language displayed a mischievous side that I&#8217;m gradually coming to appreciate.
Usyk defeated Joshua and Dubois twice, thus he has the right to poke fun. There is no malice underneath. Furthermore, he has done us a favor by taking the risk, as Joshua would not have done so without the belt.
Traditionally, September marked the beginning of the boxing season. What a way to get the party started, a date fraught with danger for both parties, since the loser could easily be eliminated.
It depends to a degree on the nature of the loss but it is certainly hard to see where Joshua goes should he register a fourth career reverse.
Dubois has fewer miles on the clock, but with two heavy defeats to Joe Joyce and to Usyk, he can’t afford another shellacking at the hands of Joshua and hope to get a world title crack.
As I argued here when the fight was first mooted, Joshua is the more complete fighter. He can box and bang. But he is vulnerable, as he showed against Andy Ruiz; badly hurt, dropped and would have been knocked out had the ref not stepped in.
Dubois has definitely improved. We can attest to that because much of his development happened markedly with us. He was behind to Filip Hrgovic this month but found a way. He is a still a little one dimensional. Explosive, but moves slowly.
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Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois were kept apart.
And there is a question over Dubois because of the defeat to Usyk. Though he had Usyk in more trouble than either Joshua or Fury did, he couldn’t finish him.
When Usyk came back at him he could not cope, which evoked memories of his loss to Joyce. It might be different this time in front of a huge audience at Wembley, and this is a terrific opportunity to prove himself on the biggest stage, to register an important win when it matters.
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Similarly, should Joshua impress, it would add weight to the idea that he is building real momentum to set up that illusive match with Fury or trilogy bout with Usyk.
So all to play for in front of a packed Wembley Stadium.

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Usyk Taunts Joshua: Forced to Face Dangerous Daniel Dubois After Humiliating Defeat.