Oleksandr Usyk confirms his place in boxing history with stunning victory
The victory saw Usyk become a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion, regaining his undisputed status and the IBF title.
The 38-year-old Ukrainian remains unbeaten in his professional career and is one of the finest boxers of this generation.
This marks Usyk's third overall undisputed championship, having previously held all major belts at cruiserweight.
For 27-year-old Dubois, it was another loss to Usyk, following their controversial 2023 bout in Poland.
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Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Hamilton in 'big, big push' to speed up Ferrari
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, July 24 (Reuters) - Lewis Hamilton said he refused to be another name on the list of Formula One champions who failed to win a title for Ferrari, and was making "a big, big push" back at the factory to help boost the chances of success. The seven-times world champion and record race winner, who moved from Mercedes to Maranello this season, has yet to stand on the podium after 12 races with the sport's oldest, most glamorous and successful team. Ferrari has not won a drivers' title since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007. "I see a huge amount of potential within this team. The passion -- nothing comes close to that. But it's a huge organisation, and there are a lot of moving parts," Hamilton told reporters on Thursday at the Belgian Grand Prix. "And not all of them are firing on all the cylinders that they need to be. That's ultimately why the team has not had the success that I think it deserves. "So, I feel that it's my job to challenge absolutely every area, to challenge everybody in the team -- particularly the guys that are at the top who are making the decisions." Hamilton named Raikkonen, seemingly forgetting that the Finn won his sole title with Ferrari, along with multiple world champions Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel on a list of those who ended up frustrated with their stint in red. "I refuse for that to be the case with me," said the 40-year-old Briton, who wants an eighth title but knows time is not on his side. "So I'm going the extra mile. "I think if you take the same path all the time, you get the same results. So I'm just challenging certain things. They've been incredibly responsive. We've been improving in so many areas." Hamilton said he had been busy at the factory since his home grand prix at Silverstone, where he finished fourth, holding meetings and going over everything that he felt needed to change. He has called meetings attended by leaders from various departments as well as principal Fred Vasseur. "I've sent documents... after the first few races I did a full document for the team. Then during this break, I had another two documents that I sent in, and then I come in and want to address those," he said. "Some of it's structural adjustments that we need to make as a team in order to get better in all the areas we want to improve. "And the other one was really about the car -- the current issues that I have, some things that you do want to take on to next year's car, and some that you need to work on changing." Hamilton is sixth in the standings, 16 points behind fifth-placed teammate Charles Leclerc. He has so far beaten the Monegasque only twice in regular grands prix. The Briton won in Belgium last year, his 105th and most recent win.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Who is Oscar Onley? The talented Scot breaking through at the Tour de France
Viewers scanning the Tour de France general classification will see a mix of wholly expected names and some comparative unknowns. Tadej Pogacar leads the standings as his era-defining dominance continues; Jonas Vingegaard sits second behind his longtime rival. But accompanying the rider sitting fourth in the overall standings is a British flag: not former Tour de France winner and veteran Geraint Thomas, but the up-and-coming youngster Oscar Onley. The 22-year-old has been enjoying a breakout season and is in action in just his second Tour de France. He and his team came in targeting a stage win but are on course for a top-five finish, and very possibly a podium place, at the sport's biggest race. With every passing stage he has surpassed both his own expectations and that of all observers. So who is Onley, and what's behind his meteoric rise? Onley grew up in the Scottish Borders town of Kelso and was inspired to start cycling by the fact that the time-trial route for his local club, Kelso Wheelers, went right past his house. The youngster was soon hooked, and while he could have had a future as an elite cross-country runner, he eventually opted for two wheels instead. He raced in Europe as a junior before joining the development team of his current squad, Picnic PostNL, in 2021. His breakthrough win came in 2022 at the Giro Valle d'Aosta, an Italian stage race, before he finished third at the CRO Race - a stage race in Croatia - and he made the step up to WorldTour racing in 2023. He finished third at the Tour de Suisse, behind Joao Almeida and Kevin Vauquelin (AP) Onley picked up a few top-10s in his debut WorldTour season, including at major stage races the Tour de Romandie and the Criterium du Dauphine, but his Grand Tour debut didn't go to plan. The youngster was part of DSM-Firmenich's win in the team time trial on stage one of the 2023 Vuelta a Espana, but he crashed and broke his collarbone on stage two and was forced to abandon the race. But 2024 was to prove a standout year. He kicked it off in style with his first professional win at the Tour Down Under, the season-opening stage race in Australia, on the famous Willunga Hill climb, and finished fourth overall. He was 39th in his first full Grand Tour - last year's Tour de France - with his best result a fifth place on stage 17 to Superdevoluy, a tough mountain stage won by Richard Carapaz. He finished second overall at the Tour of Britain, winning the best young rider classification, and was the highest-placed British rider in the gruelling World Championships road race in Zurich. This year he has built on those experiences: he was fifth overall at the UAE Tour - won by Pogacar - then ninth at Itzulia Basque Country and third overall at the Tour de Suisse, a phenomenal race for the 22-year-old. Onley was seventh in stage 13's mountainous time trial (AFP via Getty Images) He took a stage win on Stage 5, beating overall winner Joao Almeida on a stage featuring four category-one climbs, and clearly rode into his best form at the perfect time with the Tour de France on the horizon. Having moved from the rolling Scottish hills to the mountains of Andorra, the 22-year-old is most at home when the gradient kicks up. So far in this Tour he has finished third, fourth twice, fifth, seventh, and sixth twice, with three of those fine results coming on gruelling back-to-back Pyrenean stages. While Onley is a pure climber, his seventh place on stage 13's mountainous time trial indicated that that sort of terrain against the clock also suits him well, which bodes well for a future as a serious GC contender. He was distanced by the likes of Vingegaard and Pogacar at the toughest gradients on the road stages to Hautacam and Superbagneres, but has shown he can ride his own pace to limit his losses, and has ridden a very mature race to rise to fourth overall. Onley follows Vingegaard and Pogacar on the toughest slopes of Col de la Loze (AP) Nowhere was that more on show than on the queen stage of the Tour: stage 18 from Vif to Courchevel, with the summit finish 2,304m above sea level on the mythical Col de la Loze. Onley was distanced on the day's second HC climb, the Col de la Madeleine, but paced himself well and was rejoined by his teammates on the valley road to Col de la Loze. With their support he conserved his energy and ultimately was the final GC rider to stick with Vingegaard and Pogacar on the steepest upper slopes of the formidable climb, only dropping in the closing few hundred metres. After stage 16's race to Mont Ventoux he was 2'01' behind Florian Lipowitz, the current third-placed rider and leader in the best young rider classification, but the queen stage saw him shave that deficit down to just 22 seconds, meaning Onley has a fine chance of both taking the white jersey in Paris and third spot on the podium. At the same time he built his advantage to 1'26' over five-time Grand Tour winner Primoz Roglic, Lipowitz's Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammate, who currently sits fifth. The Scot has consistently stuck with the yellow jersey group and finished third behind Pogacar and Vingegaard on stage seven (AFP via Getty Images) By the end of the second week, it looked as though the Scot himself was starting to believe he is real deal. He told ITV4 on Monday, 'It's something I wasn't expecting. It's really been a successful week, the Hautacam stage gave me a lot of confidence on the first climb, when I saw Remco [Evenepoel] being dropped and [Matteo] Jorgenson in trouble and I still felt really good. That was my first real test in the mountains with multiple climbs. 'The last day in the Pyrenees [stage 14 to Superbagneres] was the hardest stage for sure. I didn't feel super good that day but looking around, no one felt that good. Each stage that passes I'm gaining more confidence. 'The team have a lot of confidence in me, and maybe sometimes I need to have a little bit more confidence in myself. But that's starting to come now and I'm starting to see my place in the peloton and finding my way.' The team have insisted throughout this Tour that Onley is riding a 'relaxed GC', without any pressure on his shoulders, and that voyage of discovery of what exactly he's capable of continues this week, with one major day of climbing in the Alps left on Friday. Onley was fifth on stage 12 to Hautacam, behind only his GC rivals (AFP via Getty Images) And with the retirement of Romain Bardet, Picnic PostNL's veteran climber and GC rider, Onley is coming of age at just the right time - along with fellow 22-year-old British talent Max Poole, who represent a bright future for British GC hopefuls. Picnic PostNL's sports director Matt Winston told Velo this week, 'I think he's an incredible talent. He works hard, he's a quiet guy. But he is very thoughtful, very reflective. And he's doing a really good job.' Onley's ambitions of winning a stage at this Tour have been somewhat thwarted by his lofty position in the general classification, meaning that Pogacar and his UAE Team Emirates-XRG outfit will never let him go in a breakaway. That means that in order to win a stage the Scot will have to stick with Pogacar, Vingegaard, and the GC group in the high mountains and overhaul them. It's a daunting task for anyone, but he has already demonstrated he can stick with them. And regardless of the final outcome in Paris, Onley has marked himself out as a huge name to watch for the future.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
What's next for Daniel Dubois if he beats Oleksandr Usyk at Wembley?
Daniel Dubois is ready to enter himself into the pantheon of great British heavyweight champions by dethroning the 'Brit basher' Oleksandr Usyk at Wembley on Saturday night. The IBF champion has resurrected his career since losing to Usyk in 2023, claiming his career-best wins against Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and a brutal knockout of Anthony Joshua. If Dubois can cause one of the biggest upsets of the year on Saturday, he will have the world at his feet at just 27 years old and be the first British undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis. But where does he go from there? As the trailblazer for the next generation of heavyweight contenders, he will have his pick of the bunch. Usyk trilogy If Dubois can exact his revenge against the odds and beat Usyk, a trilogy fight is the perfect way to complete his Hollywood-esque career resurgence. This would be close to the top of the list for Dubois, the opportunity to settle the rivalry and for 'Dynamite' to assert himself as the best heavyweight in the world. To beat Usyk twice when the likes of Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have both fallen short twice would be a special achievement. Dubois hasn't spoken on the possibility of a trilogy, but there is no doubt it would be a monumental event and a fitting conclusion to the tapestry of the Usyk vs Dubois rivalry. Joseph Parker To not include Parker in this list would be a misstatement of the facts. As confirmed by Frank Warren, Joseph Parker is the next in line for a shot at heavyweight gold. This would be a fight that is easy to make as both Parker and Dubois are in the Queensberry stable of fighters, so there would be no negotiation trouble, and the fight could be made at the drop of a hat. Parker, however, speaking to Seconds Out, didn't like his chances of getting a world title shot any time soon. Parker said: 'There's so many options that could happen after this fight. There could be a rematch clause, the belt could be vacated, they could be wanting to fight someone else.' Dubois was initially scheduled to fight Parker to defend his upgraded IBF title on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol 2 in February. Pulling out a couple of days before fight night, Dubois was accused by some of ducking the fight with Parker to set up the fight rematch with Usyk instead. Parker wants the opportunity to get back at Dubois for denying him the opportunity to fight for a world title. Parker said: 'I do want to get at Dubois, I think he is a young, hungry fighter. He's getting better and better. But I do want to test myself against this young man who denied me the chance [at a world title].' Both men will feel they have unfinished business with the other if they were to fight. Anthony Joshua rematch An unforgettable night at Wembley saw Daniel Dubois announce himself as the next generation of heavyweight champions, savagely knocking out Anthony Joshua to set up the rematch with Usyk. It was initially expected that Joshua would take an immediate rematch with Dubois, but it never materialised. Joshua was forced to have surgery on an elbow injury, which wrote him off in regards to an immediate rematch. Speaking after Bivol had defeated Beterbiev in the rematch, Eddie Hearn said the fight Joshua wanted most for his comeback was the rematch with Dubois. Hearn said: 'The right thing to do would be to rematch Daniel Dubois. I think that's what he would like to do. To have another shot at the world heavyweight championship.' If Dubois comes through his rematch with Usyk, then he will certainly be on Joshua's radar as the former unified champion has ambitions of joining the exclusive club of fighters that are three-time heavyweight champions. Whether or not Joshua will be on Dubois's radar remains to be seen after Saturday. The next generation If this rematch is to signal a passing of the torch from the generation of Fury, Joshua and Usyk to Dubois, then, as the new king of the division, the Brit will have a long line of young and hungry fighters vying for a shot at his crown. Alongside Parker as the mandatory challenger for the WBO, three other heavyweights are also in the mix for a title shot and with the bureaucracy of boxing, any one of them could be next. Agit Kabayel has come up the hard way to claim his WBC interim title by earning victories over much larger and well-respected opponents including Arslanbek Makhmudov, Frank Sanchez and Zhilei Zhang. As interim champion, he is at the front of the queue when the time for the WBC mandatory challenger comes. One of the brightest young British prospects, Moses Itauma, is also lurking in the heavyweight rankings. He is number one with the WBO, number two with the WBA and number six with the IBF. He will first have to get through the toughest test of his career against the former world title challenger and veteran heavyweight, Dillian Whyte, on August 16. Saturday's chief support is former cruiserweight world champion, Lawrence Okolie, fighting Kevin Lerena in his second heavyweight fight and he currently sits as the number one ranked contender with the WBC. The pair have shared hundreds of rounds of sparring, and a fight between them would carry a lot of history with it. Watch Usyk versus Dubois 2 live and exclusive on DAZN PPV this Saturday - July 19 - for £24.99 UK; $59.99 US; $19.99/equivalent ROW. Buy the PPV now here.
