“Usyk is an exceptional fighter, we know that, yeah, but he’s got to cut out the cheating,” said Don Charles during the post-fight conference following the first fight between his pupil, now a champion, Daniel Dubois, and the unified champion Oleksandr Usyk. The bitterness of feeling robbed of a potential win seems to linger to this day.
Yesterday, while the boxing world was still basking in the afterglow of that thriller between Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn, news broke that a rematch has been scheduled between Usyk and Dubois. The two will slug it out at Wembley Stadium on July 19. The stakes this time are different. Unlike their previous encounter, where Usyk defended his unified title, this time the undisputed heavyweight championship will be on the line. As battle lines are drawn, the visuals of the low-blow controversy that erupted in Poland continue to haunt. Speaking in an interview with Radio Rahim, Don Charles once again made clear who he believes was at fault the first time around.
Unhesitatingly, Charles stated, “He knows he knows that he cheated on that night.” This came in response to Radio Rahim asking whether calling out Usyk for alleged cheating might make the rematch even more dangerous. “He (Usyk) certainly is going to take exception to the idea that he put it on to help get him some extra time later in the fight,” Rahim pointed out. “And then being called a cheat on top of that does give you any pause to wind Usyk up. Are you making this fight even more dangerous?”
Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois Daniel Dubois, Oleksandr Usyk during boxing gala in Wroclaw, Poland on August 26, 2023. Wroclaw Poland PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxFRA Copyright: xFotoxOlimpikx originalFilename:jastrzebowski-oleksand230827_npw6j.jpg
The question stems from Charles’s earlier claim that the referee could have wrongly ruled the body shot as low, influenced by Usyk’s tactics earlier in the fight. According to Charles, Usyk had repeatedly pointed to the referee and claimed low blows during the opening rounds, even when they were not. Thus he conditioned the referee to later call a legitimate body shot a foul.
“No, we’re telling the truth,” insisted Don Charles.
The post “He Knows That He Cheated” — Daniel Dubois’ Trainer Turns the Tables on Oleksandr Usyk Before Rematch appeared first on EssentiallySports.