By Tom Donelson (BWAA) Member Boxing Writers Association of America
Oleksandr Usyk defended his heavyweight title against Daniel Dubois who was granted the IBF title when he defeated Anthony Joshua but then the only reason the IBF granted the winner of the Joshua and Dubois the title is that they took the title away from Usyk when he fought Fury in a rematch. Sanctioning bodies are like that.
Ukrainian became the first boxer who have won the undisputed championship for a third time, once a cruiserweight and twice as Heavyweight. In their first fight it had some controversy as Dubois sent Usyk down on what was called a low blow. Usyk stopped Dubois in the ninth but in his fight, Usyk showed his boxing skills and speed. Even at 38, he was still the faster fighter against his 27-year challenger.
CompuBox Punch Stats
| Punches | Usyk | Dubois |
| Total landed | 57 | 35 |
| Total thrown | 153 | 179 |
| Percent | 37.3% | 19.6% |
| Jabs landed | 21 | 11 |
| Jabs thrown | 75 | 104 |
| Percent | 28% | 10.6% |
| Power landed | 36 | 24 |
| Power thrown | 78 | 75 |
| Percent | 46.2% | 32% |
It is time to talk about Usyk place in boxing history. In a century in which we saw the end of the Lennox Lewis era part of 1990’s era of great heavyweight. The Klitschko brothers dominated the division after Lewis defeated Vitali in 2003 before retiring until 2015 when Tyson Fury defeated Wladmir Klitschko. Usyk has defeated Fury twice, Joshua twice and Dubois twice. Before that he was the best cruiserweight, a unified champion in two divisions. Dubois is a good fighter having to defeated Joshua easily in their championship bout but in this bout, Usyk dominated.
Usyk combined power with boxing skills, but his strength is tactical skills combined with his speed and footwork. He has beaten the best of the two divisions. His victory over Fury is the stuff of legends as he defeated a bigger stronger fighter. Usyk is one of the best pound for pound today, and he is HOF boxer even now.
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