This is the least interesting fight Usyk could do, but a mandatory is a mandatory I guess. The way Dubois looked in his last fight which was basically at his mercy & he let him off the hook. Usyk's combos will bewilder him. I rather see Hrgovic in there. None of the good fights are getting made, what in the **** is holding up Wilder - Ruiz. I would say Usyk wasting half the year not fighting is awful, but supposedly he had injuries, I want to see him back 100% & no excuses. I would also like to say **** the ***** king Fury.
Everyone (Wilder, Ruiz, Hrgovic) was waiting to see if Fury-Usyk would get signed. After that, the dominos would fall. That's why I was surprised Joyce signed to fight Zhang, but I'm glad he did. Probably because Warren (who promotes Fury and Joyce) knew Joyce wouldn't be a fill-in, regardless of what happened. Now that the Fury-Usyk fight didn't get signed, they (the guys who waited) can all be in play. If they were already fighting each other, they wouldn't be. Usually, once a big title fight is signed, the other contenders go looking and start signing opponents.
Only fights I care about with Usyk involved, and the only ones I can see mattering at all for boxing as a whole, are against Fury, Wilder, or Joyce. If it's not one of those fights, it's a complete waste of everyone's time and energy, and an embarrassing slap in the face to boxing, imo.
Agreed! 100%. Although at the same time, I suppose it's fair to mention that I said the exact same thing regarding Wilder-AJ-Fury about a week before Ruiz stopped AJ.
This was all a very long time ago, but I thought it went down more like this: Akinwande was WBA mandatory for Holyfield. Lewis won the belts in the rematch. Due to Akinwande's illness, the WBA made John Ruiz WBA#1 instead. Then ordered Lewis to fight him. Instead, Lewis wanted to fight Michael Grant, who was IBF#2. David Tua was IBF#1 contender and by rights was IBF mandatory - he pursued this legally himself. In the end, the courts stripped Lewis of the WBA for taking a money fight against Michael Grant. p.s. I couldn't tell you what John Ruiz's ranking was before the WBA elevated him to #1...
this was always the plan age out usyk make him fight his mandatories...2 of which just happen to be frank warrens fighters... once again lacking the advantages western fighters have the eastern euro gets ****ed over
As I recall, Lewis was legally obligated to face the WBA champion - I remember most of that more or less as @Dubblechin depicted. But in truth, the WBA was just being sleezy. An exemption could have easily been rendered in that instance, and beyond that, the idea that Ruiz was ranked #1 at that time was absurd. It was even more perplexing that Holyfield - who had just been bested by Lewis (twice in the eyes of most neutral observers) was given a crack at it. Ruiz, at that time, was best known for being blown away by Tua in a mere 19 seconds. Grant may not have lived up to the hype (but Lewis certainly had something to do with that). But at that time, Lewis and Holyfield were still seen as Top 2, and Grant was the one who had emerged as the effective consensus #3, and he was coming off a career defining win against Golota where Grant exhibited great heart and courage in overcoming adversity. Lewis-Grant WAS the logical fight then, no doubt in my mind. Anyway, I believe the WBA does have a precedent on that sort of thing, and even if they don't, does it matter? Like their 3 wicked siblings, the WBA just makes stuff up as it goes along.
This is better than futile negotiations between Fury and Usyk, Dubois has power and there is a minimal chance to threaten Usyk...
Jake Paul v Tommy Fury just got 800k PPV's.. why? Because it was a genuine flip of the coin fight.. well so we thought, top tier boxing we don't see it, go to Tab and currently 11/12 fights the favourite is $1.20 or lower, its just pad your record until there near retirement.
There's just something really underwhelming about Dubois. I can't put my finger on it. He just doesn't strike me as a top fighter in any shape or fashion. I'd hate to see this fight. It'd be the first fight I'll never watch involving Usyk.