Johnny Nelson thinks that Daniel Dubois has no more than “a puncher’s chance” against Oleksandr Usyk when the pair face off for the WBO, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles on August 26.
The fight takes place in Wroclaw, Poland and represents by far the biggest challenge of Dubois’ career. At just 25 years old and with only 20 professional fights under his belt, ‘Dynamite’s best win is a knockout of Trevor Bryan in 2022, while he came up short against fellow Brit, Joe Joyce.
Speaking to Seconds Out, Nelson was asked if he gives Dubois much chance.
“I’d love to give Dubois a massive chance, I’d love to be able to say that ’cause I always back the Brit but in reality, I don’t give him a chance.
In reality, I’ve seen chinks in him as a fighter at this stage. I always back the Brit but if you ask me a question I’m going to give you the answer. In reality, I think there’s a chink in his armour that actually for him, at this stage, if he fights somebody like Usyk, will not work for him.”
Nelson goes to say Dubois will have his flaws exposed by Usyk.
“Usyk will find him out, Usyk will break his heart, Usyk will break him down. Dubois has got a puncher’s chance. This might not sound nice to his fans, his family and all those around him, Dubois is a good fighter, but there is a chink in Dubois’s armour that Usyk will expose and take advantage of. He’s far too smart to let him off the hook. Yeah, he has a puncher’s chance and that’s it.”
Nelson is not the only one with that view, especially in light of new photos that show Usky’s increased bulk ahead of this second defence of the world titles he won from Anthony Joshua last year.