Promoter Eddie Hearn believes Oleksandr Usyk didn’t look himself against Daniel Dubois, despite ‘winning every round.’
The Ukrainian defended his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles in Poland against the 25-year-old Brit, recovering from a controversially ruled low blow in the fifth round to score a stoppage in the ninth.
Following the shot that put him down, Usyk opted for a more heavy-handed approach that was less-focused on movement – something fans haven’t seen him do much of in the heavyweight division.
Was it anger from what he recognised as more than one attempt at low blows? Did he want Dubois out of there in fear of a body shot? Hearn believes otherwise.
Speaking on the Matchroom YouTube channel, he questioned if Usyk was fighting fit for the title defence.
“I thought Usyk didn’t look himself from the first bell. I thought his feet looked slow, I thought he looked tired, I thought [it was] like he’d aged. Was it the pressure of fighting pretty much at home? He hasn’t done that very often at all?
Was he injured? … Why use a small ring? Whenever I see a fighter that like to move use a small ring it tells me they’ve got a problem. It tells me they don’t wanna move a lot. Which is very unusual for Usyk, cause if you’re fighting Daniel Dubois I think you’d like a bigger ring.
“Was there an injury? Was there an operation? I don’t know. Listen, he still won every round.”
Hearn later told Boxing Social that he was surprised to find out that the ring was 20×20 – not small given promoters can go as low as 16×16 and as high as 24×24.
The promoter stands by the idea that the Ukrainian didn’t look ‘as fluid or as sharp’ as he has in the past.
It may be a promising sign for his future opponents, the first of which looks to be IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic. The Croatian heavyweight has ‘no intentions’ of stepping aside to make way for a Tyson Fury undisputed fight.