Oleksandr Usyk took the IBF belt off Daniel Dubois with a devastating knockout at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night – and the Ukrainian said he owed it all to “Ivan”
Daniel Dubois was on the receiving end of “Ivan” at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.
Oleksandr Usyk knocked Dubois out to become the three-time undisputed heavyweight champion. Dubois, 27, suffered his third career defeat – and his second against Usyk – as he surrendered the IBF heavyweight crown to the Ukrainian.
Usyk claimed the 24th win of his glittering career and his seventh consecutive triumph over British fighters. He reclaimed the IBF title to add to his WBA, WBO, and WBC belts – and said he owed it all to Ivan.
“Listen, we prepare for this fight with my team. We learn from first fight, we have a long time, two years, and we prepare a combination. You know the punch is named ‘Ivan’,” Usyk revealed.
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“Left hook? A hook is like this (gesture), that is Ivan. It is Ukrainian name. Ivan is you know a big guy, who lives in a village, he is Kozak, you say, ‘what is your name?’ And he says, ‘my name is Ivan,’.
“Yeah, it is a hard, hard punch, Ivan. It is a long time. Maybe first time is 2018? Yeah, first time. It was USA in cruiserweight.
“Now I want to go back home, now I want to do a choice over what next. I will continue in boxing, I will continue in training, but now I cannot say who next.”
Asked if he thought of himself as one of the best of all time, Usyk replied: “Ha, no. For me, UK is like a second home because this I take all my trophy. European (amateur) champion (in Liverpool), London 2012, Tony Bellew, Dereck Chisora, Anthony Joshua, three-time undisputed Dubois, I am very grateful for this country.”
Dubois said: “I have to commend him on his performance. I gave everything I had, probably a few things I could have sharpened up on, but take no credit away from the man.
“I was just fighting, I was in a fight and trying to pick up round by round. It is what it is, but I’ll be back. I want to thank everyone for coming out. I gave my best, we’ll go back to the drawing board and come again.”
Dubois’ promoter, Frank Warren, lavished praise on Usyk, saying: “We witnessed one of the true modern-day legends tonight in action. Oleksandr Usyk for me is a heavyweight in any generation that would be an outstanding fighter.
“I take my hat off to him in how he coped, how he showed such mental resilience in someone’s back yard, he is something special. He is a special fighter. Daniel is obviously very disappointed, he is in the dressing room at the moment but he will come back.”
