Another British world champion has given their verdict on the result of Oleksandr Usyk’s rematch with Daniel Dubois, but they think it will be déjà vu from the first encounter.
Usyk vs Dubois 2 has been simmering during fight week as the British man has used his newfound confidence to try and intimidate his opponent.
Mind games do not scare the Ukrainian, but one weapon ‘Dynamite’ has is his power, which Joe Joyce singled out as memorable about their fight.
Usyk has already had the $500k bet of confidence from Canelo Alvarez, but he will be looking at his success in their inaugural meeting as motivation instead.
Oleksandr Usyk will stop Daniel Dubois late once again, says former WBO champion Barry Jones
Barry Jones is one of those who can’t see ‘The Cat’ being caught by Dubois in their second go around; he even feels it is an almost exact repeat of their Poland fight.
Speaking to Boxing Now, the former WBO super-featherweight champion wanted to clear the air on people’s opinion of the 28-year-old.
He said: “Daniel’s not a different fighter, let’s get that out of the way, he’s a more confident fighter, so mentally he is in a better place. All the stuff he did was really good anyway.
“I see it going the same way, I see the result and the finish being the same, there might be a different route to that.”
However, he acknowledged there is one way to prevent the current unified champion from winning, but it isn’t easy.
“You have got to stop the movement of Usyk to beat him, no one else has been able to do it, it’s a difficult task,” Jones said.
“He has to be brave, it’s easy to say be brave, when you have to do it I’m not quite sure.”
Famously, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua struggled to put their size on the smaller man and lost by clear decisions.
The popular commentator gave an honest final prediction on how the fight would play out on Saturday night.
He said: “Unless there is a massive decline in Oleksandr Usyk or he gets caught with a big shot, which in this division can happen, I think you have to make him the favourite, and I think he will get the late stoppage, and I think he will get Daniel exhausted.”
One big change from first Oleksandr Usyk fight could massively help Daniel Dubois
Memories of the controversial first fight are diminished to the low blow debate or the young British fighter going down off a jab.
But looking into the stats, there are many adjustments that can improve his chances.
The first and most vital is the jab; through the nine rounds, he connected with only 13 jabs and didn’t throw more than 23 in a single round.
His piston-like jab is the perfect weapon to stifle his opponent coming forward; it is what ‘The Great’ did himself in the fight when he threw 53 more jabs.
Body punching, of course, should remain a staple on the off chance he catches him similar to the low blow, which splits opinion.
It is going to be confidence to drive forward and stick it on his foe, which gets the IBF champion a win here, nothing more, nothing less.
But it is if he can exorcise those demons early to pull off an unlikely win, it is a moment for the British boxing history books.