Frank Warren lavished praise on the ‘special’ Oleksandr Usyk following his victory over Daniel Dubois – but questioned his fighter’s own performance after he was knocked out at Wembley.
Usyk was crowned the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world again after delivering another best in class performance against British opposition, stopping Dubois with a devastating left hook in the fifth round of their contest.
The undefeated Ukrainian has cleaned house in boxing’s blue riband division having beaten Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and now Dubois twice, still at the very top of his game at 38 years old.
Over a decade younger, Dubois had been backed by plenty to end Usyk’s reign. Despite a strong opening round where he took centre of the ring, Usyk masterfully took control with his southpaw jab.
Usyk dropped the Briton to his knees in the fifth round with a vicious right hook. While Dubois rose back to his feet, a ruthless left send him back down unable to meet the referee’s count.
Warren has now watched Usyk outclass his two top heavyweight names in Dubois and Fury across four fights. While dazzled by the champion’s craft, the Queensberry Promotions chief explained a lack of head movement cost his fighter, believing there ‘was something he could have done differently’ while also questioning Dubois’ ‘mental attitude’.
‘I do think he could have done something different,’ Warren said in the post-fight press conference. ‘When he was letting his jab go he was doing well. But he just stopped. He dropped his hands and we could have done with some more head movement.
‘What does he take from it? He takes from it that he has got to have more head movement. You don’t want to be knocked down, it’s a fact of life. When he got knocked down, he should have looked to the corner, let them pick up the count and take his time. But it didn’t happen. He’s [Usyk] a good finisher. A very good finisher. He’s a tough guy, he’s hard as nails.
‘Daniel has to develop the mental attitude that Usyk has. He didn’t stick to the task and he got careless and paid the price.’
Fight stats show his gulf in class
Uysk stopped Dubois in the ninth round of their first fight two years ago in Poland, recovering from a low blow to dominate his rival.
It was a similar story on Saturday night. Usyk is one of the most elusive fighters in the sport and has made a name out of making the division’s biggest hitters miss.
Dubois outpunched his rival, attempting 179 shots – 26 more than Usyk did across the five rounds. The Londoner found his target just 35 times however, hitting double figures for punches landed in just one round.
Usyk meanwhile connected with 57 of his 153, seeing out the fight with an impressive hit rate of 37.3 per cent – almost double that of Dubois which stood at 19.6 per cent.
In the final round when it all ended for him, Dubois landed just two shots on his opponent with Usyk hitting him with 12 of the 17 shots he threw in in that onslaught – a remarkable hit rate of 70.6 per cent.
What is next for Daniel Dubois?
Dubois crushing victory over Anthony Joshua last September confirmed his standing as the country’s new heavyweight star.
Last night’s defeat was a damaging one – the third of his career having lost to Usyk in 2023 with Joe Joyce handing him his first career defeat in 2020. None of those defeats were close run affairs.
While stern in his post-fight reflections of his fighter’s performance, Warren pointed to the example set by another British heavyweight great in Frank Bruno, who’s determination to return from setbacks better than before made him such a force.
Daniel will have a little break, think about a few things and he will have to resurrect himself again,’ Warren said.
‘Daniel is very disappointed, he is in the dressing room at the moment and if he is to come back from it, he has to learn from it. I look back at Frank Bruno for example. Three times he fought for the world title and he got it on the fourth attempt. Daniel, has won a world title so hopefully he can come back and learn from it.’
Dubois is unlikely to walk straight back into a world title fight but there are still huge fights ahead of him – namely the Joshua rematch.
There are other major domestic dust-ups that could be considered against Fabio Wardley and Derek Chisora. Moses Itauma, also promoted by Frank Warren, is another option although the 20-year-old already has huge title aspirations of his own, in action against Dillian Whyte in August.
Dubois has bounced back from previous setbacks and returned to the ring an improved fighter. At 27, he now has huge world title experience behind him.
When his fighter does return to the ring, Warren insisted it will be against a ‘quality fighter’.
‘What level of opponent? Well, he has got to come back and make a statement,’ he said. ‘And make a statement against a quality fighter. that’s what he did last time and that is what he is going to have to do.’
