Oleksandr Usyk wants to become a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion.
Usyk, Uncrowned’s No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world, told recently Sky Sports that he has just two fights left in boxing, the first of which he wanted to be against the winner of Saturday’s scheduled Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker bout for Dubois’ IBF heavyweight title.
However, Britain’s Dubois was forced to withdraw from the Parker fight on Thursday, which was set to co-headline the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 mega-card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Parker will instead defend his WBO interim heavyweight title against dangerous contender Martin Bakole on the show.
Uncrowned will have live round-by-round coverage of the entire card.
Despite Dubois vs. Parker no longer happening on Saturday, Usyk, who holds three heavyweight belts, still has set his sights on IBF heavyweight champion Dubois for an undisputed title clash next.
“I want to fight next with Dubois,” Usyk told DAZN on Friday morning.
Usyk, 38, previously held the undisputed cruiserweight title in 2018. He then moved up to heavyweight and replicated the achievement with his split decision victory over Tyson Fury this past May.
Ukraine’s Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) was forced to vacate his IBF title shortly after the bout as he was obligated to rematch Fury and could not make a mandatory defense against the interim champion, Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs). Dubois, 27, was then upgraded to full IBF champion and successfully defended his title with a shocking fifth-round knockout of Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium this past September in a sensational upset.
After Usyk beat Fury by unanimous decision in their rematch, Dubois stormed into the ring and demanded a rematch with Usyk.
The duo previously fought on a night mired in controversy. In August 2023, Usyk knocked the Brit out in the ninth round to retain his unified titles in Poland. Before that, however, Dubois floored Usyk with a right hand in the fifth round that was controversially ruled as a low blow. Usyk was given several minutes to recover, much to the disappointment of Dubois and his promoter Frank Warren, the latter of whom filed an official — and ultimately unsuccesssful — appeal with the WBA, contesting the referee’s decision.
To this day, a significant portion of boxing fans insist Dubois should’ve been the rightful winner over Usyk, though Usyk will have a chance to put the saga behind him for good should the pair rematch next.
