Body shots and 'dirty' tactics - how does Dubois beat Usyk?

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3 days ago

Oleksandr Usyk v Daniel Dubois 2
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Date: Saturday, 19 July
Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds, follow live text commentary from 20:00 BST on Saturday, 19 July on BBC Sport website and app.
Confidence, maturity and chaos.
Those three words have been uttered more than any other by Daniel Dubois and those who surround him during fight week.
Dubois is gearing up for what he hopes will be his crowning moment when he faces Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
Just shy of two years ago, IBF champion Dubois dared to dream when he travelled to Poland, but came up short in a ninth-round defeat against Usyk.
Dubois has gone back to the drawing board, rebuilding his career with three successive victories, including a stunning knockout win against Anthony Joshua.
Should Dubois find a way past undefeated WBA (Super), WBO and WBC champion Usyk, he will become the first Briton to unify the heavyweight division in the four-belt era and the first to become undisputed on home soil.
Many - 21 to be exact - have tried to crack the code that is Usyk but all have come up short.
BBC Sport look at what Londoner Dubois needs to do to ensure a better outcome when he welcomes Usyk to his backyard.
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Usyk v Dubois 2 - all you need to know
What happened in the first fight?
Simply put, Usyk was too good.
The Ukrainian came out on top in almost every metric.
Of the 359 punches thrown by Usyk until the fight ended one minute and 48 seconds into round nine, he landed with 24.5% accuracy. Dubois threw 290 punches with just 16.2% of those finding the target.
Despite losing the contest, Dubois and his team left Poland feeling a sense of injustice.
Usyk was floored in the fifth round but it was deemed to be a low blow and the 38-year-old was given almost four minutes to recover.
That punch landed just 22 seconds into the round and when the action resumed Usyk came on strong, with two of the three judges scoring it in his favour.
It was the first body shot landed by Dubois in the bout and he went on to try and target Usyk's torso for what remained - landing a further nine.
Could Dubois target the body?
Dubois' trainer Don Charles made reference to the low blow when the fighters met at a news conference before their rematch in April.
Charles accused Usyk of "conning the referee" and said he "should be given an Oscar for that performance".
Usyk told BBC Sport: "It's just blah, blah, blah - empty words."
Usyk's team insists there is no vulnerability to be exploited by Dubois going to the body, with his physiologist Jakub Chycki saying the fighter's core is "very strong".
Usyk even made light of it during his open workout at BoxPark Wembley on Wednesday - allowing his training partners to repeatedly hit him in the stomach with foam sticks.
But attacking the body is likely to be part of the masterplan for Dubois and his last three fights offer an insight into his potential approach.
Just four months after losing to Usyk, Dubois landed a career-high 208 punches and 50 of those were to the body when stopping Jarrell Miller in round 10.
Next up was Filip Hrgovic when the overall output dropped but he still went to the body regularly, landing 17 shots across eight rounds.
Dubois outclassed two-time heavyweight champion Joshua, with 10 shots to the body helping him secure a fifth-round knockout.
'It's going to be a dirty fight'
Dubois linked up with trainer Charles for the first meeting with Usyk and they've forged a strong bond in the past two years.
They have worked together across four fights and six camps - Dubois was due to face Joseph Parker in February but withdrew on two days' notice because of illness.
"The relationship isn't just what happens in the corner," BBC Radio 5 Live boxing analyst Steve Bunce said.
"It's the amount of time you spend with a fighter in small moments, 10 or 15 minutes after training just sitting there or 20 minutes walking through a field and feeding the horses at their gym - that's where you bond."
Charles kept reminding Dubois about "second phase" in the first contest - meaning he wanted a follow-up to the jab to stop Usyk from escaping - and that phrase has cropped up again in fight week.
Across his 24-fight career, Dubois has thrown an average of 44.3 punches per round but that dropped to just 34.1 against Usyk.
"Dubois will be facing Usyk at the start of the manoeuvre and then all of a sudden he's four foot to the left and when Dubois turns Usyk has moved another four foot and hit him three times," Bunce added.
"Dubois' plan will be not be to throw more, but to get into range more.
"He's going to get warned for using his shoulder and forearm to push Usyk back. It's going to be a dirty fight."
Dubois vows to 'bring chaos'
In 2023, Dubois was met by 40,000 boisterous, largely Ukrainian fans when he walked out at Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw.
It was the biggest stage and biggest fight of Dubois' career but he froze.
Dubois allowed Usyk to take the centre of the ring, establish his jab and settle into a rhythm - and that's a perilous game.
There is an argument Dubois' first opportunity to face Usyk came too soon. His CV lacked big names but he was running out of opponents below the elite in the division.
The subsequent victories over Miller, Hrgovic and Joshua have done wonders for the Londoner's confidence and made him believe more than ever that his time is now.
"As soon as the first bell rings my whole approach is just to seek and destroy and bring chaos and get the victory - seize the moment," Dubois told BBC Sport.
Dubois has looked at home in fight week, smiling and taking everything in his stride - but can he "seize the moment" in front of a full house at Wembley on Saturday?
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