By Charles Brun: Oleksandr Usyk says that Daniel Dubois is revealing his lack of self-confidence by talking about how he saw fear in his eyes during their recent press conference for their fight next month on August 26th at the Wroclaw Arena in Poland.
IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) feels that Dubois (19-1, 18 KOs) is projecting his own fear & self-doubt onto him ahead of their fight on August 26th. Usyk feels that Dubois is scared of what may happen to him in this fight. The big lug has already lost once to Joe Joyce and came close to losing his last fight.
After Dubois’ last fight against the unheralded former cruiserweight Kevin Lerena, in which he was knocked down three times in the first round and lucky, the contest wasn’t stopped last December.
That contest showed that the 25-year-old Dubois isn’t ready to fight quality opposition at this career stage. He needs more experience before fighting for belts against what many believe to be the true king of the heavyweight division, Usyk.
Tyson Fury, the WBC champion, has shown that he doesn’t believe in himself and wants no part of fighting Usyk, Anthony Joshua, or any of the other heavyweights in the division that could throw a wrench into his money-making machine.
“The only thing he could see in my eyes was light. Do I look like a man afraid of Daniel [Dubois]? He has no confidence. He’s just talking about confidence. He’s a little bit too young and too emotional,” said Oleksandr Usyk to Secondsout about his opponent Daniel Dubois lacking self-esteem.
By Dubois saying he sees fear in Usyk, it could serve a purpose by making him feel less afraid by creating an imaginary world where he sees a vulnerable champion, one that he can mow down easily like he’s done against the fodder-level opposition thaat his promoter he matched him against since his crushing tenth round knockout loss to Joyce three years ago in 2020.
Dubois would be better off admitting that he’s afraid of Usyk and not wasting time trying to turn him into a harmless cartoon character in his head, so have less worry about what may happen to him.
“There’s no difference from where I’m fighting. When I’m at home, I’m fighting at home. When I’m fighting out of my home, and I’m coming as a guest that comes, that place becomes my home,” said Usyk about fighting away from home in Poland against Dubois.
