Tuesday afternoon saw ESPN/Top Rank Boxing confirm that they will be the U.S. broadcast partner for the unified heavyweight title defense next month of Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois.
From their official release:
“Ukraine’s unified WBA/WBO/IBF heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk will defend his titles against WBA mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois on Saturday, August 26 at Tarczyński Arena Wrocław in Wroclaw, Poland.
Usyk, a 36-year-old southpaw who hopes to become the undisputed king in a second weight class, will spend Ukrainian Independence Day weekend putting his belts on the line against London’s hard-hitting Dubois.
Promoted by K2 Promotions, in association with Queensberry, Usyk-Dubois and undercard bouts will stream live and exclusively on ESPN+ in the United States starting at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT.”
Usyk, 20-0, 13 KOs, will be making a mandatory defense against the WBA top challenger Dubois, 19-1, 18 KOs who holds their secondary title. Usyk was last in the ring in August 2022, when he validated his upset win of Anthony Joshua from 2021 by beating the Brit a second straight time by decision to retain the WBA/IBF/WBO versions of the heavyweight title.
As we wrote previously, Usyk-Dubois will take place in Poland with the ongoing Russian invasion and partial occupation of Ukraine over the last 18 months.
Alex Krassyuk of K2 Promotions, which won the purse bid for Usyk-Dubois said last month, “Wroclaw is home to many Ukrainians. The fight will take place at the stadium (set up) for 24,000 people. We had to change the date from Aug. 12 to Aug. 26 because it is Ukraine’s Independence Day. It’s the perfect date to set up a fight with Dubois. We couldn’t waste it.”
K2 Promotions will distribute the bout in Europe and that includes, the bout being offered on pay per view on the previously known “BT Sport,” which has changed it’s named to “TNT Sports” after being bought by the the U.S. based conglomerate Warner Bros.-Discovery.
Undercard bouts for the Usyk-Dubois have yet to be fully finalized and announced.
More must-reads: