Daniel Dubois is cleared to next challenge for a heavyweight title.
All that’s left now is to actually make the fight happen.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the WBA has fully verified medical information submitted by Dubois and his team, which confirmed that the Londoner is fit to resume his career without interruption. The step was key in the sanctioning moving forward with plans to order a heavyweight title consolidation bout between Dubois and unified WBA, IBF and WBO titlist Oleksandr Usyk.
“WBA Championship Committee chairman Carlos Chavez confirmed on Monday that its panel “ordered the bout between Heavyweight Super Champion Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois. The organization sent the communication to the parties today with a 30-day negotiation period… ending on May 2.”
Usyk (20-0, 13KOs) is guided by Alex Krassyuk’s K2 Promotions-Ukraine and multiple-time BWAA Manager of the Year recipient Egis Klimas, while Dubois (19-1, 18KOs) is represented by Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions and manager Martin Bowers. Should the bout head to a purse bid hearing, Usyk would earn 75 percent as the WBA ‘Super’ champion. Dubois would receive the remaining 25 percent as the ‘Regular’ titleholder.
The development comes both in the wake of collapsed talks between Usyk and lineal/WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 24KOs) for what would have been the first undisputed heavyweight championship clash of the 21st century. The two sides teased for months the possibility of a springtime collision, though talks ultimately hit a wall.
It was the WBA who stepped in to order a hard deadline for negotiations to conclude, given its overdue title consolidation fight. Fury and Usyk had until March10 to conclude talks. As Boxing Scene previously reported, both parties confirmed to the WBA that terms were agreed to for their proposed championship clash. The WBA then placed an April 1 deadline to receive signed contracts, though the fight fell apart well before that point.
Dubois’ team petitioned to enforce the boxer’s mandatory status, at which point the WBA requested his full medical records to confirm he could compete in time to no longer hold up the process. The concern was over reports that Dubois suffered a torn ACL in his off-the-canvas, third round stoppage of Kevin Lerena on the Fury-Chisora trilogy undercard. The first of three knockdowns in a disastrous opening round saw Dubois land the wrong way on his leg, which was later revealed by head trainer Shane McGuigan as a torn ACL in his left knee. He was down twice more in the round but rallied to twice drop and eventually stop Lerena.
The win was his first title defense of the WBA ‘Regular’ heavyweight title he claimed title in a sixth-round knockout of unbeaten Trevor Bryan last June 11 in Miami.
Ukraine’s Usyk (20-0, 13KOs) holds the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles, all of which have mandatory challengers waiting in queue for their respective shot at the unbeaten two-division champ. The sanctioning bodies agreed that the WBA is next in rotation, which Dubois next up as the WBA ‘Regular’ heavyweight titlist.
Usyk became a two-division titlist following his September 2021 win over Anthony Joshua in North London. The Ukrainian southpaw—who won an Olympic Gold medal in 2012 London—previously served as the undisputed cruiserweight champion before he moved up to heavyweights.
Four wins have followed including back-to-back victories over Joshua, The repeat feat came last August 20 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A nip-and-tuck affair through nine rounds saw Usyk puil away in the final nine minutes to successfully lodge his first title defense.
Talks of two major fights surfaced in the aftermath: an undisputed championship clash with Fury; and a blockbuster title defense versus former WBC heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder (43-2-1, 42KOs)
Usyk vowed to be ringside for Wilder’s ring return last October 15 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Wilder went on to win by first-round knockout over Robert Helenius, though not in the presence of Usyk whose team did not keep their word.
Still, it was theorized that Wilder could work his way into a title fight, even as there existed a path to face fellow former titlist Andy Ruiz in what would have been a sanctioned WBC title eliminator. Wilder even recently advanced to the number-one position at heavyweight in the most recent WBA rankings.
However, any chance of fighting Usyk was always contingent upon Dubois not being medically cleared and IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic (15-0, 12KOs) simply not being available for the fight.
Usyk’s team seemed content on sticking with a mandatory challenger for his next title defense, which is now the case.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox