Oleksandr Usyk has announced he will defend his WBO, WBA, and IBF heavyweight titles against Daniel Dubois in Poland on August 26.
The unified world champion confirmed details of his WBA mandatory title defence against the WBA ‘regular’ titleholder in a social media post on Thursday.
“See you 26 august,” Usyk wrote alongside a fight poster that revealed he will face off against Dubois at Tarczynski Arena – a 45,000-seater venue which is commonly referred to as Wroclaw Stadium.
The 25-year-old also shared the official fight poster and provided a prediction ahead of his first legitimate world title fight.
He said: “It’s my time now! I’m going to shock the world! Be ready Oleksandr Usyk.”
Dubois became the mandatory challenger for one of Usyk’s three titles when he survived three early knockdowns to score a third-round stoppage win over Kevin Lerena at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last December.
However, ‘DDD’ was initially expected to be made to wait as Tyson Fury was set to fight Usyk in a historic four-belt undisputed clash at Wembley Stadium on April 29 before that fight fell through.
As a result, Usyk was ordered to fulfil his mandatory obligation by the WBA and after several months of negotiating his fight with Dubois is now official.
In May, Alex Krassyuk’s K2 Promotions won the purse bids for the fight with a massive $8,057,000 (£6,523,431) bid, while Dubois’ promoter Frank Warren’s Queensberry put forward $5,620,050 (£4,549,262).
The purse split for the fight was 75/25 in Usyk’s favour as he is the champion.
Therefore, he will receive $6,042,750 (£4,891,425) – unless he agreed to a deal in advance with his promoter Krassyuk to take a lower sum in order to allow them to bid higher and win the purse bids.
Dubois will receive $2,014,250 (£1,630,475).
The winner will move on to more big heavyweight fights.
Usyk already has one eye on a proposed mega-event in Saudi Arabia which he could headline alongside Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder.
It was hoped he would face Fury on the card, but Filip Hrgovic has been discussed as a potential alternative as ‘The Gypsy King’ is seemingly set to face former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou instead.
Despite that, Egis Klimas, Usyk’s manager, says he is still hopeful victory over Dubois will “lead to the biggest clash in the world” against Fury.
Dubois can ruin Usyk’s plans next month, but the 19-1 Englishman will need to be at his destructive best to upset the odds and beat arguably the best boxer on the planet.
Stay Connected , follow us on: Facebook: @creebhillsdotcom, Twitter: @creebhillsblog, Instagram: @creebhills, Pinterest: @creebhills Telegram: creebhills
To place an advert/sponsored post on our site, contact us via [email protected]
