It’s official. Oleksandr Usyk‘s rematch against Daniel Dubois is locked in for July 19 at Wembley Stadium.
The bout will be for the undisputed heavyweight championship.
Usyk had unified the division when he beat Tyson Fury in May 2024.
However, the Ukrainian was forced to vacate the IBF heavyweight title to pursue a second fight with ‘The Gypsy King’ in December, which he won via unanimous decision.
Dubois picked up the interim IBF heavyweight crown a fortnight after Usyk’s first victory over Fury when he stopped Filip Hrgovic.
But thanks to Usyk’s decision to rematch Fury, which was also won by Usyk, Dubois was elevated to full IBF world champion.
He then retained the title when he inflicted a devastating knockout on Anthony Joshua at Wembley last September.
The bout comes after the WBO had ordered Usyk, who holds the WBO, WBA and WBC heavyweight world championships, to defend his belts against WBO interim title holder Joseph Parker.
However, an exemption was lodged earlier in April on behalf of Usyk and Dubois for their blockbuster clash to take precedence.
It was reported Usyk were due to fight on July 12.
However, the date was pushed back so it would not clash with the Ring Magazine’s card in New York City, which will feature Edgar Berlanga vs Hamzah Sheeraz and Shakur Stevenson vs William Zepeda.
Usyk and Dubois’ rematch will take place nearly two years after their first encounter in Poland.
The Ukrainian came out on top via a ninth-round knockout, but he was felled by a shot from Dubois in the fifth that divided the boxing world.
Dubois thought he’d scored a big knockdown when he dropped his rival with a thunderous body shot.
However, the referee deemed it was too low and thus an illegal punch.
It meant the 38-year-old was given five minutes to recover and it proved vital as he rallied back into his groove and eventually produced the stoppage in the ninth round.
Dubois’ promoter, Frank Warren, submitted an appeal to get the fight overturned on the grounds the Brit’s body shot was legal, but the result remained the same.
Both Usyk and Dubois will join Jim, Simon and Martin Keown on tomorrow’s White and Jordan show in the studio on Monday following the announcement.
