The dynamics in the heavyweight division have shifted remarkably since Oleksandr Usyk became the undisputed champion after toppling the ‘Gypsy King’ Tyson Fury on May 18, 2024, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. For starters, ‘The Cat’ is no longer the undisputed champion, thanks to the IBF which handed his belt over to his mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois, who became the No. 1 contender for the strap after defeating Filip Hrgovich earlier this year. Usyk couldn’t defend his belt against Dubois on time due to a rematch clause he signed with Fury. As a result, Daniel Dubois became the IBF heavyweight champion. But, will ‘DDD’ be the world champion for long?
The 27-year-old British boxer will be going up against his compatriot Anthony Joshua this Saturday at the Wembley Stadium. AJ is on a redemption arc since his back-to-back losses to Usyk. And, the opportunity to become the heavyweight champion for the third time will make him even more determined to win against the Greenwich native. “I’m not silly, I know the game. We’re all in the wild. We’re a pack of lions and hunters. The goal is just to get through a successful training camp, and then performing on the night,” Joshua stated during the press run for the fight.
As for the event itself, Michael Benson reported that Fury and Usyk will also be present ringside for the Joshua-Dubois event on Saturday night at Wembley Stadium. The 12-round heavyweight title fight will happen in front of a record crowd of 96,000. The popular English band Oasis’ frontman Liam Gallagher is expected to perform before the walkout between the two main event fighters. The PPV event will be broadcast on DAZN, Sky Sports Box Office, and TNT Sports, for £19.99.
Usyk and Fury will be eagerly anticipating the result of the main event fight at Wembley. Meanwhile, either Joshua or Dubois might have the chance to become undisputed, depending on what happens on December 21st in the Fury vs Usyk rematch.
Could we be getting another highly-anticipated all-British showdown between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in the near future? Or, will Joshua step inside the ring against Usyk for the third time? Well, all these questions become irrelevant if Daniel Dubois pulls off an upset against AJ. Meanwhile, fans had their say on the recent development regarding Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk’s ringside appearance at Wembley as well as the possibilities of a future showdown between them all.
Fans are enthralled by the shakeup in the heavyweight division!
One fan wasn’t looking forward to Anthony Joshua fighting Usyk for the third time if the former undisputed heavyweight champion happens to defeat Tyson Fury again in the rematch. At the same time, for that matchup to happen, the former two-time heavyweight champion also has to defeat the current IBF champion. They commented, “Love this! Fury as a new challenge I’m up for it. But Usyk and Joshua 3? Please no.” Safe to say, Usyk defeated Joshua fair and square in their last two meetings, winning both contests on the judges’ scorecards.
Meanwhile, another fan predicted that Usyk was going to knockout Fury during their second meeting inside the squared circle in December. They wrote, “Knock Fury out so cold next time around that the Typsy King is gonna say Happy New Year again 10 days early! Mark these words.” Notably, Tyson Fury, after his loss against Usyk, wished the fans gathered at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh a ‘Happy New Year’ in the middle of May.
