When Fury made the decision to fight Dereck Chisora for the third time in December, the argument was made that his former rival was the best option available for a clash at the beginning of December, deemed necessary because of the plan involving Fury and Usyk.
However, despite at one stage appearing on course to agree terms, their respective promoters locked horns over whether offers were made and the value of each man in the fight.
Usyk agreed to take a meagre 30% split to get a deal over the line before failing to agree further terms with Fury’s camp, and it later became apparent that Saudi Arabia would not be in a position to host their fight until the end of the year.
Whether Usyk ever fights Fury remains to be seen, but Queensberry Promotions were aware that another fighter of theirs in Dubois was in line to fight instead of the WBC champion.
There is an argument that a fight with an opponent as skilled as Usyk has come at the wrong time for the Brit. In the first defence of his WBA regular belt that he won from Trevor Bryan, Dubois was dropped three times by unheralded Kevin Lerena at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
To Dubois’s credit, he got off the floor to stop Lerena at the end of the third round, but the knee injury sustained during the flurry of knockdowns at the start of the fight have led to an extended layoff
For the 25-year-old to have accepted this fight on this date, the belief will be that he has fully recovered, yet he is heading into the unknown when movement and sharpness will be key against someone of Usyk’s repertoire.
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If it was deemed possible, Usyk would have wanted this fight to take place in Kiev, but the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia has led to a neutral venue being selected in Poland.
The Tarczynski Arena is the home of Slask Wroclaw and boasts a capacity of 45,105. As well as playing host to the Polish top-flight football side, the venue has also staged 13 Poland friendlies since 2011 and three matches during Euro 2012.
On its unveiling 12 years ago, it staged a world heavyweight title fight as Tomas Adamek challenged Vitali Klitschko, the champion retaining his WBC belt with a 10th-round stoppage.
