Former heavyweight contender and current trainer of Deontay Wilder, Malik Scott, has broken down why he believes there will be a knockout in Oleksandr Usyk’s upcoming unified heavyweight title defence, against Britain’s Daniel Dubois.
Since moving up from the cruiserweight division, Usyk has registered just one stoppage win, against Chazz Witherspoon in round seven of his debut in the division back in October 2019. The Ukrainian has won each of his three bouts following that clash, once against Derek Chisora and twice against Anthony Joshua, going to the judges on each occasion.
As for Dubois, the 25-year-old has knocked out all but one of his opponents in his nineteen victories to date, with all eighteen finishes coming in the fifth round or sooner.
However, Scott told ES News that he believes that Usyk can not only take Dubois’ power, but that he can knock out the hard-hitting challenger himself.
“I’ve got Usyk winning by stoppage. Dubois is a big guy, obviously if he hits him [it will hurt], but if he hits him, so what? Usyk has got one of the best chins in the division. His issues with punch intake has nothing to do with his chin, he has taken harder punches from better punchers and bigger boxers than Daniel Dubois.
I believe that Daniel Dubois is going to overcommit a lot, and when you overcommit a lot against Oleksandr Usyk, he is able to hurt you. Even though he is not the biggest puncher, he can hurt you because he hits you with shots that you don’t see coming and Daniel Dubois has never been in the ring with anybody like this. He’s going to find out very early that there is levels to this.”
Usyk and Dubois will take centre stage on Saturday night in Wroclaw, Poland, where the WBA, WBO & IBF heavyweight titles will be on line, topping a card that can be watched live on TNT Sports Box Office.