By Euronews with AP
Published on
ADVEReadNOWISEMENT
Oleksandr Usyk has, once again, become the undisputed heavy weight boxing world champion after defeating Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
With a left hook to his younger opponent’s jaw, the 38-year-old Ukrainian cemented his win in the fifth round, retaining his WBA, WBC and WBO belts and regaining the IBF belt he vacated just over a year ago.
When asked about victory, Usyk hinted at that this is only the beginning, saying he is still a “young guy”, and that “38 is only the start.” He named Tyson Fury, Derek Chisora, Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker as possible next opponents. Jake Paul threw his own hat in the ring.
“I will continue boxing and I will continue training, but now I cannot say who my next opponent will be,” Usyk said at his press conference.
Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) beat Dubois (22-3, 21 KOs) for the second time in under two years, making him the latest British fighter, along Fury and Joshua, to have lost twice to Usyk, who was an undisputed world champion as a cruiserweight before he moved up in weight six years ago.
Dubois had delivered a stunning knockout win over Joshua in his previous fight at Wembley last September. However, he couldn’t muster the same success with Usyk.
Speaking to boxing website DAZN, Dubois said he gave everything he had.
“Take no credit away from that man, I’ll be back,” he added.
The 27-year-old was hoping to become the first British heavyweight to hold every major belt since Lennox Lewis just over 25 years ago. Dubois had inherited the IBF title that Usyk vacated last year when the Ukrainian chose to focus on his rematch with Fury.
When asked if he thinks he’s one of the sport’s all-time greats, Usyk replied flatly “no”, citing discipline instead.
“I don’t have motivation, I have discipline. Motivation is temporary,” he said.