Following the failed negotiations between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, the latter was directly confirmed to be in talks to face Daniel Dubois as his next contender. The WBA has now put out an official order for Daniel Dubois, the WBA’s ‘Regular’ world champion at Heavyweight, to face unified Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
The WBA has signaled the teams of both fighters to officially start negotiations starting the 4th of April with a deadline set until the 2nd of May. A failure to reach an agreement will spur the fight to go to purse bids instead which will leave the bout up for grabs for any promotion to bid on other than the two promotions already involved with the two Heavyweights.
With Alex Krassyk, Oleksandr Usyk’s (20-0, 13 KO’s) manager, having already confirmed last week that his team was in talks with Daniel Dubois (19-1, 18 KO’s), the WBA’s mandate seems to be just a confirmation of a fight that was already in works.
With Oleksandr Usyk coming off a split-decision win over Anthony Joshua since August of 2022, the Ukrainian is likely eager to get into the ring after his failed negotiations with Tyson Fury (33-0-1 24 KO’s). Daniel Dubois will be Usyk’s second title defense at Heavyweright since capturing all the titles in September of 2021, and the Brit will be the first mandated opponent that he will face.
Though Filip Hrgovic (15-0, 12 KO’s) had won the opportunity to face Oleksandr Usyk first following his close-knit win against Zhang Zhilei (24-1-1, 19 KO’s) in an IBF Final Eliminator for the Heavyweight division, the WBA’s own mandated opponent in Daniel Dubois now enjoys the chance to become a (unified) world champion instead.
Hrgovic previously was expected to face Usyk, but had to make way for the negotiations between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. With those talks now officially having collapsed, there had been an inkling that Filip Hrgovic would be ordered to face Usyk afterwards, but it seems like it is now the WBA’s turn to press a mandate.
Daniel Dubois ― who won the WBA ‘Regular’ title roughly over a year ago after defeating then-incumbent champion Trevor Bryan (22-1, 15 KO’s) ― is currently seen as a contender but at 25 years of age is also still somewhat regarded as a prospect. Regardless, Dubois is genuinely one of the best British Heavyweights in the division, which overall still has him viewed as one of the best Heavyweights in the world.
Due to an apparent injury Dubois suffered during his narrow stoppage victory over Kevin Lerena (28-2 14 KO’s), Alex Krassyk had previously voiced his concern as to whether the British Heavyweight would be up to the task of facing Usyk in time, but the WBA seems to have sorted out Daniel Dubois’ injury status after they had received an update on his health on the 30th of March.
Daniel Dubois is reportedly fit enough to train and fight, thus propelling the WBA to put forth their order. Though it is yet unknown when the two Heavyweights will meet each other given the negotiations that are currently still ongoing, but there is every indication it can happen in the summer between June and August.
