Oleksandr Usyk shrugged off accusations of cheating and fakery, saying he was ready to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world for a second time when he fights Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium on July 19.
The fight will be a rematch of a controversial August 2023 “low blow” clash in Wroclaw, Poland, that Usyk won after being allowed to recover from what the referee ruled was a shot below the belt.
Briton Dubois has since acquired the IBF belt vacated by the Ukrainian, who still holds the WBC, WBA and WBO versions, after beating Tyson Fury for the undisputed title in May last year.
“I’m ready right now,” Usyk, 38 and still unbeaten, told a press conference at the stadium on Tuesday.
Dubois’s trainer Don Charles weighed in by saying the Ukrainian deserved an acting Oscar for his performance in Poland.
“You conned the referee, you conned us, you conned the boxing world,” said Charles after Usyk’s camp had accused Dubois of fighting dirty that night.
Usyk, smiling, said the Oscar would be coming. “You must teach your fighter to punch clean,” he added.
“It’s just talking. For me it doesn’t matter. It’s my road. Blah, blah, blah. I respect all my opponents.”
The Ukrainian’s promoter Alex Krassyuk said his man was still hungry and the world would see “a version of Usyk that you have never seen before. No more controversies, no more question marks”.
Manager Egis Klimas said after photographs of the blow were produced, with Usyk’s camp accusing Dubois of up to 20 low blows, that the Ukrainian champion could not be accused of cheating.
“Don’t call my man a cheat,” he said. “He didn’t cheat. He had an opportunity to rest and he rested…tell it to the referee, not my man.”
Promoter Frank Warren said that first fight was history and July, the first time an undisputed heavyweight four-belt title bout has been fought on British soil, would set the record straight.
Dubois promised he would be exacting his revenge. “I can’t wait to put him to sleep,” said the 27-year-old.
“I’m on fire now. I’m just pent up. I’m ready to go. It’s going to be a bloodbath…in the ring on the night he’ll be doing a funny dance when I hit him.
“We don’t care about no body shots. We’re going to knock him out on July 19.”
