By Jake Tiernan: David Haye believes Daniel Dubois can pull off the upset if he uses the right tactics against unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk this August night on August 26 at the Tarczyński Arena Wrocław in Wroclaw, Poland.
Haye says Dubois (19-1, 18 KOs) must not allow Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) to stay on the outside because that favors him, with his fast, sharpshooting left hands and jabs that uses to win fights.
This could be the last chance for Dubois, as he quit against Joe Joyce and came close to being knocked out in the first round by second-tier heavyweight Kevin Lerena.
WBA made it easy for Dubois
If Dubois loses to Usyk on Saturday night, it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to claw his way back. The WBA didn’t make it difficult for Dubois this time to come back from his loss to Joyce to capture their secondary heavyweight title.
All Dubois had to do to capture the World Boxing Association’s ‘regular’ title was beat Trevor Bryan, Bogdan Dinu, and Joe Cusumano. It’s shocking how easy the WBA made it for Dubois to return from that loss.
If Dubois loses to Usyk on Saturday, he’ll need to go through this murderer’s row to get in position to fight for another world title:
- Arslanbek Makhmudov
- Martin Bakole
- Anthony Joshua
- Jared Anderson
- Lenier Pero
The former two-division world champion Haye says that Dubois, 25, shouldn’t see this as a twelve-round contest because he won’t win a decision against the master boxer Usyk.
For that reason, it’s essential that Dubois go all out looking for the knockout, especially early on, because Usyk is a slow starter.
Haye wants Dubois to jump on 36-year-old Usyk right out of the gate, taking advantage of his old legs, and fire him up with nonstop combination punches until he wilts.
David wants Dubois to take the fight to the inside and throw clusters of punches that force Usyk to clinch. Dubois shouldn’t let up while Usyk is holding because he can’t allow him to neutralize his offense.
Dubois must stay in close
“We’ve got a master boxer in Oleksandr Usyk who’s proven himself time and time again. He proved himself at cruiserweight, and he’s proved himself at heavyweight against the giant Anthony Joshua. Anthony Joshua had two attempts to dethrone him and couldn’t do so,” said David Haye to TNT Sports Boxing about Daniel Dubois facing the four-belt heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night.
One thing that Dubois has going for him, besides size, youth, power & hand speed, is the inactivity of Usyk, who hasn’t fought since last year in August 2022.
That’s twelve months out of the ring for Usyk, which can’t be a good thing going into the contest against a motivated, younger fighter like Dubois.
“Joshua tried and failed to have a long-range boxing match with the master boxer and came unstuck,” said Haye. “So I definitely feel Dubois watched that understanding of what was clear to see from everybody.
“Having a long-range tactical battle with a genius with a master magician, southpaw magician, Olympic champion all the belts that cruiserweight and pretty much all about the titles at heavyweight, let’s not play that game with Usyk.”
If Usyk chooses to fight on the outside, there’s really not much Dubois can do about it because he’s much too slow to cut off the ring on him, and he will get picked apart if he pursues the champion around the ring.
The only hope Dubois has is to try and make every punch count so that when he does land on occasion, he’s throwing with full force because his only chance of winning is to knockout Usyk.
“Chisora was able to win five of the 12 rounds onto the judge’s scorecards [againt Usyk],” Haye said. “I heard Don Charles talking about strategy. He said he’s he wants to put Usyk out of his comfort zone, and that’s exactly right.
“Dubois needs to use every ounce of his massive heavyweight frame and implement that from round one, not easing into the round, allowing Usyk to get his distance to get his range because it’s been a little while since Usyk has been in the ring,” said Haye.
Haye -“Usyk is no spring chicken”
“I know he’s not traditionally a fast starter; he likes to ease into the fight. So whilst he’s easing in, Dubois needs to be doing damage, particularly in the clinches when they get inside,” Haye said. “Come into range, throw clusters of punches, getting Usyk to hold.”
Fighting on the inside is obviously what Dubois has been working on in camp because he’s going to have a big size advantage over the 220-lb Usyk in this fight, and he’ll have to use it for him to win.
“Don’t look at this as a twelve round fight. Dubois is not going to win this fight on points against Usyk,” said Haye. “He will have to force Usyk to fight to keep him off of him and fight at a pace that will drain Usyk’s energy.
“He’s getting older. Usyk is no spring chicken. Are those legs as good as they were five years ago? I don’t believe so. He [Dubois] needs to use his youth, his strength, his size, his aggression, and the fact that he doesn’t have that many miles on the clock.”
Last year, Usyk fought like a fighter in his mid to late 20s in his rematch with Joshua, so Dubois shouldn’t count on him having gotten old overnight.
“Usyk has had a lot of tough fights, even back at cruiserweight,” said Haye. “Hundreds of amateur fights. He’s worn, he’s torn, he’s seasoned, but he’s at the end of his career. If you look at his two fights against Anthony Joshua, he looked significantly better in the first fight than he did in the second fight.
“Duboiss is coming into his peak now. Hopefully, this can be the fight where he proves to the world that ‘I am #1.’ All it takes is that one clean shot followed up by a cluster of clean shots to end the fight.
“He has the capability. He’s done it before against a lot lower opposition, understandably, but in the heavyweight division, crazy things happen.
“Who would have thought that the cluster of punches that Andy Ruiz threw against Anthony Joshua would be enough to change the momentum of the fight? If he [Dubois] has that Andy Ruiz mindset where ‘I’m just going to keep coming forward through punches,’ he can do the unthinkable, and he can, he has the capability to become the unified heavyweight champion of the world,” said Haye about Dubois.
