Fury and Breidis, in any order. As someone else said, AJ probably gave him more adversity than DuBois did with a borderline lowblow. Maybe in the rematch it will be different though.
Fury. Usyk said so himself. https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/usyk-confirms-fury-was-his-toughest-fight.722007/
Broadly this... Dubois is still on the up, he's still not quite prime IMHO - but whilst he's somewhere near the top of the division, that's not necessarily saying THAT much right now. The sense in which it could be tough is that Dubois will still be improving whilst Usyk is declining... And in that sense, Usyk ought Joshua when he was still in decent shape, and fought Fury when both were starting to decline - it's probably fair to say he'd have always beaten them both. With Dubois, though, there could potentially come a point where Usyks declined enough and Dubois is improved enough that Usyk is at a disadvantage and at much more risk than he was the first time around... Is that yet? I'm not sure, we'll find out!
Not at all Dubois would have no chance at all against Fury. Would be a clear UD for Fury. IF Usyk were to struggle against Dubois in Wembley, this will be only due to massively deteriorating Age related fitness which I don’t see happening. More likely Usyk beats Dubois and then goes for triology vs Tyson.
With so many people backing Dubois or giving him a great chance, I hope Usyk is given props for fighting and beating the powerful, prime, slayer they all say Dubois has become. Personally i’d rather Usyk was fighting Parker or Kabayel so here’s hoping one of those is his sign off fight. Job done, game over, boxing complete.
I think that given the context of the fight, which is DD being primed coming off a career best performance, and Usyk aging, coming off hard grueling fights, and that DD is a very dangerous puncher, that this could very well be Usyks most dangerous fight of his career thus far.
Ya pre fight its that. After (if) Usyk wins, it will be oh he beat someone he already had beaten and felt safe to rematch, joyce leftovers, ect ect. And if he loses it will be the whole 'exposed' circus. This fight was always a lose lose for Usyk, dont get why it was made.
I'd add to that that it proves nothing. If usyk wins, he beat him before who cares? and if he loses then Usyk was old and he already beat dubois when he was less-over-the-hill than he is now.
Very true. This may be arguably a somewhat improved version of Dubois that Usyk is facing and if that is the case and Olek gets the win, his resume should be viewed even more favourably. However, in the instance of a repeat win, the alternative (more likely?) view could be that Usyk simply dusted off the same opponent (in terms of their quality) he defeated previously. Personally, without ignoring the quality of the comp. Dubois has defeated during the interim and making the mistake of overrating him based on that lesser comp., I think he has improved and not least for his greater commitment to winning and toughing it out. This fight is intriguing in so far as finding out how much Dubois has really improved and how much Usyk himself might’ve declined - and the additional unknown variable is if the ref. will allow Dubois to fight dirty or not.
Obviously not but Usyk will be the 6th oldest HW champion of all time in a few weeks and there's only three months separating him from being the 5th oldest one. He's already the 3rd oldest unified HW champion. The oldest undisputed one. He's had two very tough fights vs Belly since they last fought, is currently going through his third long and very gruelling camp since they last fought, and fighting opponents that much bigger and heavier than you and sparring fighters that much bigger and heavier than you in camp when campaigning in a division you don't belong in takes a huge toll on your body, especially more so at this age. Dubois is way bigger, way heavier, way younger, in the midst of his prime, possesses murderous power (KO 95%), has home advantage in a huge stadium which sold out 60,000 tickets in the first 24 hours they went on sale, and he's a dirty fighter. The deck will be HEAVILY stacked against Usyk and he's already giving away so much as it is. The chances of him losing via hook or via crook are much higher than the first time they fought and his style and success at the weight hinges on speed and reflexes How many world champions can you think of who have fought a way bigger, heavier, way younger prime savage punching KO artist with KO 95% in their backyard on a deck heavily stacked against them at 38.5 y/o? I'll wait. You have all of boxing history and the careers of countless legends of the sport to find as many instances or as many similar instances as you can. I doubt there will be many
There doesn't always have to be an excuse for a loss. What if Dubois was just the better man on the night? Or Usyk was just the better man on the night?
I think Usyk can deal with the physicalness of stronger opponents like AJ and DD. But, Fury made him think for 24 rounds, and not at his natural weight. That probably drained him more than anything. However, I still think the next DD fight is still interesting. More so, to see if there has been a decline from Usyk.
Given his weights in and around that time, Dubois weight of 233 1/4 lbs for the first Usyk fight was somewhat light for him. Since then he has fought as high as about 15 lbs north of his weight for the first fight. Daniel may well be rocking a 20 lb + weight advantage for the rematch. I’m not even sure that Usyk weighed a full 226 lbs for his last fight vs Fury, on the scales he was fully clothed - unless the weights given were done prior without the extra clothes and footwear.