Oleksandr Usyk is set to defend his unified heavyweight titles against Daniel Dubois in Poland and British boxing legend, Naseem Hamed, has made his last minute prediction.
Dubois goes into the contest as a heavy underdog, with most inside boxing giving the 25-year-old nothing more than a puncher’s chance.
Speaking to TNT Sports, ‘Prince Naz’, agrees Dubois is up against it and sung the praises of the Ukrainian and ‘future hall of famer’, Usyk.
“I’m going to say exactly what’s in my heart and in my mind. The first thing that comes to ind is I always knew this guy, Oleksandr Usyk, is no joke, he different. This guy has come through with a boxing IQ from the amateur days winning everything you can imagine and more.
When I see Usyk, I realise this is a future hall of famer, without no doubt. It makes me proud as a hall of famer to look at a future hall of famer who’s already done so well.”
Having said that, Hamed is not writing off the powerful young Brit.
“But, we don’t write Daniel Dubois off. Not just because he’s British or he’s from London, I always spoke about Daniel Dubois from the very beginning. I said if there is any man to takeover the heavyweight scene it’s DDD.
Now, this is a hard fight and it’s the biggest biggest and hardest fight that he could ever have at this time of his career but it wouldn’t surprise me it a huge upset could happen and may happen.”
In his final prediction he thinks Usyk could run away with the fight but that one thing is guaranteed – pain!
“I’m telling you this, the script in my eyes shows that Mr Usyk is that clever is that good, his boxing IQ is that high that he possibly runs away with a points victory. We have to mention a but, you never ever know what can happen in heavyweight boxing and the way Daniel Dubois hits to the body, I love the way he hits to the body, he’s a proper fully fledge young gun heavyweight that’s hungry – when you put all that together you’re a problem for anyone.
Prediction – Pain! Somebody is going to get hurt.”
Usyk vs Dubois takes place on August 26 at Stadion Wroclaw in Poland and will be broadcast live on TNT Sports Box Office in the UK.