We know fairly little about Usyk....

[Willow The Wisp]

.....at Heavyweight.

We DO know that his technique and skill levels are supurb, honed over 350 amateur fights at the highest level.

We know that as a Cruiserweight these skills were always in evedence in brilliant wins over a strong division consisting of Rodriguez, Glowacki, Hunter, Huck, Briedis, Gassiev and Bellew, who combined for a 179-7-2 record.

We know that some fighters carry up in weight well and others don't. And, we have powerful evidence that Oleksandr Usyk Does.

We know that Usyk looked very ordinary against Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora at heavyweight, and we wondered then if he'd improve.

We know he did, as he upset Anthony Joshua for some titles, then repeated the feat.

What we Don't know.......

Is he a very good heavyweight contender/beltholder who's got Anthony Joshua's number alone?
Barkley had Hearns's number. So what? He still wasn't nearly as good.

Usyk has ZERO good performances at heavyweight outside of Joshua.
He squeezed by Chisora. Some even felt DelBoy deserved the nod.

So the upcoming battle against big Daniel Dubois is bound to tell somthing that Nobody can be sure about.
Sure, Dubois has some flaws; but he has some Significant strenghts as well, and those will be tuned up and ready to tell us some truths in August.

What are your thoughts about what we will learn?

[Smash]

hes put AJ into a psych ward & has the tele tubbie running for the hills at heavyweight

not too bad but we need the fury fight really & fury is hard to deal with unfortunately

[baroidi]

Chisora showed that Usyk can be bullied by bigger HWs, smother him, fight dirty on the inside. Everyone before the Joshua rematch (fans, analysts and pro boxers) was saying Joshua needed to impose his size on the CW, but Joshua is so damaged mentally and afraid to get hit that he let Usyk outbox him again. We still don't know if Usyk can take HW power, Dubois hits hard, if he lands clean it might the the decider.

[dan_cov]

Chisora showed that Usyk can be bullied by bigger HWs, smother him, fight dirty on the inside. Everyone before the Joshua rematch (fans, analysts and pro boxers) was saying Joshua needed to impose his size on the CW, but Joshua is so damaged mentally and afraid to get hit that he let Usyk outbox him again. We still don't know if Usyk can take HW power, Dubois hits hard, if he lands clean it might the the decider.

Virtually every opponent has tried this going all the way back to his amateur days. He has fought countless elite pressure fighters, sluggers, swarmers and its totally overblown that is the way to beat him based on Chisora winning a mere 3 rounds vs an Usyk who had all sort of issues going on.

This isn't how to beat him and fighters with similar styles or gameplans have never typically done well against similar style southpaws to Usyk. In fact I can only even think of one example in Horn beating Pacquaio where that worked and even many felt it was a terrible decision.

A good few fighters have done better than Chisora in recent times but people, fans, trainers, pundits all seem to be so fixated with this being the way yet if they had followed Usyks career or look at similar style fighters they would see what causes him or similar fighters more problems are fundamentally sound counterpunchers.

Pressuring and trying too bully him plays to his strengths.

[GhostofDempsey]

I don't think we will learn much, Dubios is an unproven fighter with a big punch. I guess if Usyk can take his best punches it will prove he has a solid chin that may just hold up against Wilder and Fury.

[JakeTheBoxer]

Yes, but Chisora is a tough inside maschine who works hard for 12 rounds.

These huge guys like Joshua can`t do to Usyk what Chisora did. And, lets be honest, Chisora maybe won 4 rounds. I am generous.

Only a few guys can fight the way Chisora fights.

Dubois fight will not tell much, Dubois is a very ordinary fighter and Usyk will take his punch away.

[Clegg]

Dubois, like AJ, doesn't really work on the inside or use rough tactics. I don't seem him bringing anything different/better to the table. I thought Dubois had a career worst performance last time out.

A stronger pressure fighter who doesn't mind making a fight gritty or even dirty looks to be the hardest match-up for Usyk which is why it's hard to see him beating Fury. But very few guys in the division have the gas tank, skills to fight that way.

[JakeTheBoxer]

Dubois, like AJ, doesn't really work on the inside or use rough tactics. I don't seem him bringing anything different/better to the table. I thought Dubois had a career worst performance last time out.

A stronger pressure fighter who doesn't mind making a fight gritty or even dirty looks to be the hardest match-up for Usyk which is why it's hard to see him beating Fury. But very few guys in the division have the gas tank, skills to fight that way.

Fury is too scared to even try.

[Willow The Wisp]

You can't take much stock in all the many reports about fight negotiations or fighter challenges these days, and therefore it's impossible to qualify any statement about who is ducking who.

However, if the media has ANY handle on the situation, it would appear that Dubois is merely a tune-up for Usyk as he stays sharp for an early 2024 shot at the real crown in Saudi Arabia. That would be the ideal scenario, and would be double good if Wilder vs. Joshua was featured in the co-feature, and the whole world would be watcging that.

Dubois, in spite of his limitations, real and imagined, the eye socket injury against Joyce and whatever the hell that was the last time out, still represents the most dangerous opponent not named Joshua he's ever faced, and I'm not convinced that Usyk can casually run right through him.

Let's find out.

[Apollo7]

We know he has skills. We know he's small for a HW. We know that is beneficial his speed, mobility, stamina etc but is detrimental to his power and strength. Can his strengths can make up for his weaknesses against other opponents? There's only one way to find out.

I personally don't read too much into the bad performances. Teofimo looked poor in some fights, Bivol didn't look great in some fights, Fury didn't look good in done fights, Floyd didn't look great in some fights. Etc etc. I try to look at what they're capable of. Form is temporary, class is permanent.

One thing I would say though is Usyk's age is a factor. He's past his physical prime and fighting naturally bigger men. I don't expect him to be able to keep this up for too much longer.