Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois – Results & Post-Fight Report

Oleksandr Usyk successfully defended his WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight world titles for a second time in a rainy Wroclaw, Poland, as he broke down the plucky Daniel Dubois for a ninth round knockout win.

Usyk cleaned out the cruiserweight division, and then captured heavyweight gold in 2021 with an impressive points win against Anthony Joshua, and he defended in a split decision victory in August 2022.

Dubois had earned his shot at glory after taking the WBA ‘Regular’ title in June last year, knocking out Trevor Bryan in four rounds, and he defended against Kevin Lerena six months later, getting off the canvas three times to record a third round win.

Usyk (21-0, KO14) began off a speedy jab in what was a quiet first round, and Dubois (19-2, KO18) was caught with a stiff left hand in the second as he struggled to solve the puzzle posed by the Ukrainian. Dubois had brief success to the body in the third, but Usyk quickly wrested back control, working off his jab and only allowing ‘DDD’ the odd success. A borderline low blow from Dubois had Usyk in all sorts of bother at the start of round five, and after a lengthy delay, he went on the attack and landed clean shots to the challenger to assert once more. Dubois worked well to the body in the sixth, and those shots seemed to trouble the champion a frame later, only for Usyk to go on his biggest attack of the contest.

That attack continued into the eighth, but the Londoner was able to grow in confidence, landing with decent shots of his own, only for Usyk to land a heavy knockdown with a cuffing combination right on the bell. The minute rest between rounds wasn’t enough, as a stiff right hand had him over again in round nine, and this time he was unable to beat the count, and the bout was over.

Hamzah Sheeraz (18-0, KO14) wasted little time in defending his WBC Silver middleweight title for a second time, as he halted Dmytro Mytrofanov (13-1-1, KO7) early in the second round of their meeting. Mytrofanov was down four times in all, as Sheeraz took victory with just over thirty seconds gone in the second frame. Denzel Bentley could be next up for the Englishman.

Denys Berinchyk (18-0, KO9) defended his WBO International lightweight title for an eighth time, and was tested by Anthony Yigit (27-4-1, KO10) before pulling away in the second half of the fight for a unanimous decision win. The Ukrainian took the win by scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113 to solidify his lofty world ranking.

The son of the legend, Aadam Hamed (1-0, KO1) followed in the footsteps of his famous father Prince Naseem Hamed, making his professional debut with a simple first round win against Vojtech Hrdy (1-3, KO1) in their scheduled four rounder at super lightweight. Hamed trapped his man in the corner and unloaded, and Hrdy threw nothing back, leading to the referee’s intervention as the towel came in.

Daniel Lapin (8-0, KO2) claimed the vacant IBO Continental heavyweight title, as he stopped Aro Schwartz (20-7-1, KO13) in round six of a scheduled ten.

Rafal Wolczecki (10-0, KO7) stayed unbeaten, as he stopped Roberto Arriaza (19-8, KO14) in the third of a scheduled eight at super middleweight.

Vasile Cebotari (14-0, KO6) stopped the tough Joel Julio (39-18, KO33) in round six of eight at welterweight, and Bryce Mills (13-1, KO4) took a comfortable decision win, also at welterweight, against Damian Tymosz (7-3-1, KO4), winning all six rounds on two cards. Lazizbek Mullojonov (4-0, KO4) needed just under a round to take care of Nursultan Amanzholov (5-1, KO4).

Ziyad Almaayouf (4-0, KO1) continued his education, and he took a wide points win at super lightweight against Janos Penzes (3-5, KO2). Almaayouf came through by two scores of 59-55, and a third at 60-54. Yaroslav Khartsyz (3-0, KO2) took all four rounds in his super lightweight contest against Konrad Czajkowski (2-1-1, KO1).