Make no mistake — there was no shyness about this. Belt around his shoulder, sweat still on his face, microphone in front of his mouth, Daniel Dubois looked into the Co-op Live camera, breathed out, and said the only word that mattered: Usyk.
The follow-up, from Dubois: "I want my belts back. I'm a two-time world champion. There's only one fight from here." Frank Warren, behind him, nodded. The crowd, still half-disbelieving what they'd just watched in round eleven, roared.
The Usyk Question
Oleksandr Usyk is currently in Spain at his Gandia base, finishing camp for Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza on May 23. The Verhoeven fight is the WBC heavyweight title against a kickboxing legend — a circus crossover that's already nearly sold out. Usyk's team have made no secret of the fact that the Wardley-Dubois winner is the next proper boxing fight on the radar, with Anthony Joshua's tune-up noise as the only external pressure.
Frank Warren, speaking to DAZN immediately after the fight: "The winner of this was always going to be in a stadium fight next. I think the world wants to see Usyk-Dubois II. I think Usyk wants it. I know Daniel wants it." Make no mistake — Warren doesn't say things like that without having had at least the opening conversation with Eddie Hearn or Alex Krassyuk.
Why The Rematch Is Different This Time
The first Usyk-Dubois fight in Wroclaw was a coronation for Usyk and a low-blow controversy for Dubois. The second was even clearer — Usyk by stoppage. So why now? Two reasons. One: Dubois in 2026 is a different fighter. Calmer, more compact, doesn't waste shots, and his right hand is the cleanest in the division — Wardley had no answer for it from round nine onwards. Two: Usyk is older. He's still levels above most of the division, but the gap has tightened.
If you know, you know. Anyone who watched Usyk's last few rounds against Joshua II will tell you the body work was starting to take its toll, and Dubois is one of two heavyweights on the planet capable of getting the body work right.
The WBC Wrinkle
The complication isn't the rematch — it's the WBC. They're currently sanctioning Usyk-Verhoeven as a heavyweight title fight, and they've got their own ideas about who's mandatory at heavyweight. Sulaiman has been shifting the mandatory rule for months. If Usyk beats Verhoeven and then signs Dubois II for full undisputed, the WBC will need to be told no — and Sulaiman doesn't like being told no.
The way around it: a unification with the WBC purse-bidding window already running, so Usyk-Dubois II goes ahead with three belts on the line and the WBC interim is sorted in parallel. Hearn and Warren have done this dance before. They'll do it again.
Luke's Call
Usyk-Dubois II happens before Christmas. UK soil, almost certainly Wembley, possibly Tottenham if the dates clash with Fury-Joshua. Pay-per-view, DAZN, possibly Netflix bid in. The fight will be priced as Usyk -300, Dubois +250, and the bookies will be wrong on the spread because Dubois at heavyweight in 2026 is a problem for everyone, including Usyk.
I'll tell you what I'd put a tenner on — Usyk wins on points. But it goes twelve. And Dubois has a moment — round seven, somewhere around there — where the right hand lands and the building stops breathing for half a second. That moment, in a fight a year from now, is what every promoter in boxing is currently mentally pricing.
Two-time champion. Daniel Dubois. The most overlooked man in the heavyweight division for half a decade just put himself at the front of the queue. If you know, you know.