Jim White couldn’t hide his surprise when Barry McGuigan revealed who he thinks is the best heavyweight in the world.
Since making his debut in boxing’s glamour division in 2019, Oleksandr Usyk has cleared out the weight class.
Last May, he achieved undisputed supremacy at heavyweight by handing Tyson Fury the first defeat of his professional career.
In doing so, he became the first man to unify the division since Lennox Lewis in 1999 and the second to pick up all the titles in two weight classes during the four-belt era following his reign of dominance at cruiserweight.
This lofty feat shot him up to the top of the pound-for-pound list, and although he was later forced to relinquish his IBF title to Daniel Dubois to pursue his rematch with Fury, he remains the consensus best heavyweight in the world in most people’s eyes.
At present, you would be hard-pressed to find a top 10 heavyweight list that doesn’t have Usyk in pole position.
Yet former WBA featherweight champion McGuigan has gone against the grain by suggesting Dubois is better.
“Daniel Dubois in the ascendancy, he is 27 years old, he is coming through,” he told talkSPORT’s White and Jordan show on Thursday lunchtime ahead of ‘Triple D’s’ clash with Joseph Parker this weekend.
“He believes 100 per cent that he is the best heavyweight in the world.
“He is looking for that rematch with Usyk. It’s a fabulous fight [with Parker].
“Joseph Parker has got a rock-solid chin, he’s got that Maori mentality, he’s in great shape, he is on a run of success.
“Can he beat Dubois? I think right now Daniel Dubois is the best heavyweight in the world including Usyk.”
A look of bewilderment came across White’s face as he muttered: “Including Usyk?”
McGuigan then reaffirmed his stance: “I absolutely do think that.”
Of course, Usyk knocked out Dubois in August 2023, though en route to the eventual stoppage the Ukrainian was dropped by a blow that divided fans.
Some claimed the punch, which decked Usyk for several minutes in the fifth round, was legal and should have been counted while others insisted it had strayed low.
Referee Luis Pabon determined it was an illegal shot and so Usyk was given four minutes to recover before rebounding to stop Dubois in the ninth round with a stiff jab.
Dubois was branded a quitter by several members of the boxing fraternity after seeing out the count on one knee while his gas tank was also questioned.
However, a trio of gutsy wins over Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic, and Anthony Joshua have gone a long way in re-writing that narrative.
“Usyk bamboozled him and caused him trouble and everything else,” McGuigan added as he doubled down.
“They all said [after the Usyk fight] he had no stamina and that if he doesn’t get you out of there in half a dozen rounds then he is done.
“But he proved that he did against Miller, who is 310lbs, he battered him for 10 rounds and stopped him in the tenth round.
“And also with Hrgovic, he took his lumps early on and overcame him and blasted him out in the eighth.
“That is not a man who has stamina issues. People are always going to question your heart until you prove them wrong.”
McGuigan then went on to claim that Dubois has more power than any heavyweight he has ever laid eyes on, including heavy-handed ‘Big’ George Foreman.
“If you stand and trade with Dubois, certainly in the first five or six rounds he will flatten you,” McGuigan continued.
“He is one of the hardest punching heavyweights of all time. His jab would bash all your teeth down your throat.
“He is so naturally powerful. I don’t know if I have ever seen someone with the same power in my experience…
“Foreman was tremendous but he had a different physique and he was a different type of fighter.”
If Dubois can beat Parker this weekend then he will punch his ticket for an undisputed clash with Usyk later this year.
Usyk told talkSPORT.com last week that he intends to fight whoever emerges victorious from the IBF title fight in his penultimate professional outing.
“We wait for a fight on February 22 between Daniel and Joseph,” he said during an exclusive interview on the London Eye.
“Whoever wins this fight between Daniel and Joseph, I have already made the fight.”
