The first heavyweight title fight of 2023 has a location and platform.
BoxingScene.com has learned that the Oleksandr Usyk-Daniel Dubois title consolidation bout will headline a TNT Sports Pay-Per-View event. As previously reported by Boxing Scene, the fight is set for August 26 at Stadion Wroclaw (Tarczynski Arena Wroclaw) in Wroclaw, Poland. The event will be the first boxing PPV under TNT Sports, the new brand name for BT Sport which is due to go live July 18 in the U.K.
Social media platform International Boxing News was the first to provide an update on the platform. Representatives from K2 Promotions and Queensberry Promotions—representing Usyk and Dubois, respectively—did not respond to separate inquiries from Boxing Scene seeking comment or confirmation as this goes to publication.
The fight will be the first of the year with any major heavyweight title at stake.
Lineal/WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 24KOs) has not fought since a third win over Derek Chisora last December in North London. Usyk was ringside for the fight and met Fury in the ring to begin the buzz for an undisputed championship clash that never came to fruition.
The WBA then ordered Usyk to enter a title consolidation clash versus London’s Dubois (19-1, 18KOs), who holds the WBA ‘Regular’ heavyweight title. The matter went to a May 25 purse bid hearing won by K2 Promotions with a massive bid of $8,057,000, far outpacing the $5,620,050 amount submitted by Queensberry Promotions as the lone other bidder.
Usyk (20-0, 13KOs) is due $6,042,750—75-percent of the winning bid as the WBA ‘Super’ titleholder.
Dubois and his team are entitled to a career-high $2,014,250 payday per the standard 25-percent as the secondary titlist fighting for a superior belt.
The winner of the fight will be the sole recognized WBA heavyweight titlist, thus eliminating the ‘Regular’ belt from existence in accordance with the sanctioning body’s ongoing title reduction campaign.
Usyk (20-0, 13KOs) will attempt the second defense of the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles he acquired in a September 2021 win over Anthony Joshua in North London. Their rematch last August 20 saw Usyk—a 2012 Olympic Gold medalist for Ukraine and former undisputed cruiserweight champion—earn a repeat win, though he had to settle for a strangely scored split decision to retain the titles.
Krassyuk targeted Poland given his financial backing in the area along with the bordering nation’s increased Ukrainian population since the start of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The event was originally targeted for Aug. 12 but pushed back two weeks to coincide with Ukraine Independence Day (Aug. 24).
News of the televised platforms comes in the wake of yet another update on the targeted undisputed championship. Egis Klimas, Usyk’s manager, tweeted Tuesday that the unbeaten two-division champ is already signed and sealed for such a fight through his new co-promotional alignment with Skill Challenge Promotions.
Fury still does not have a confirmed date or opponent for his next ring appearance.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox