The WBA Championship committee has ordered their Super champion’ Olekander Usyk, to face ‘regular’ champ Daniel Dubois next to consolidate the heavyweight belts. Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) and the ‘Dynamite’ Dubois (19-1, 18 KOs) have 30 days to assemble a deal before a purse bid on May 2nd.
(Photo credit: Queensberry Promotions)
Dubois’ management will need to keep their fingers crossed that he doesn’t get blown out of the water for the highly skilled, far more experienced Usyk in this fight because, on paper, this is a terrible mismatch that could ruin the career of Daniel, such as it is.
The 25-year-old Dubois is coming into this fight from a poor three-knockdown performance against the unheralded Kevin Lerena last December. Dubois hurt his knee in the first round after getting repeatedly dropped by the South African Lerena.
“We’re negotiating, and we’ll see where we go, but the negotiations have started,” said Dubois’ promoter Frank Warren to Queensberry Promotions about the Usyk vs. Daniel talks.
“The mandatory is Daniel, and that’s it, and we, Daniel, wants that fight, and that’s that,” said Warren, reacting to being told that Deontay Wilder has been installed as the #1 contender with the WBA as of last week.
Warren didn’t say whether he would be interested in taking a step aside on Dubois’ behalf if it’s offered to him by Usyk’s management so they can defend against #1 WBA Deontay Wilder in what would be a bigger fight.
If Dubois stepped aside, it would give him free money and the chance to fight the Usyk-Deontay winner, which could be Wilder.
Some would argue that Dubois stands a better chance of beating Wilder than he would against the highly mobile sharpshooter Usyk, who would take advantage of his slow hand speed & movement to pick him apart.
If an average fighter like fringe contender Lerena could drop Dubois three times, Usyk would do far worse to him and likely finish what’s left of his career.
It would be better for Dubois to look at this from a tactical perspective by taking the easy step side money if offered and then hoping that Wilder emerges as the winner against Usyk.
“The WBA Championships Committee ordered the bout between Heavyweight Super Champion Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois. The organization sent the communication to the parties today with a 30-day negotiation period starting on April 4 and ending on May 2,” per WBA on Twitter.