Nick Ball says Daniel Dubois can “potentially take out” Oleksandr Usyk if he hits him to the body in their rematch on July 19th at Wembley Stadium in London.
Ball states that he felt the right-hand shot that Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) dropped Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) with in the fifth round of their first fight on August 26, 2023, shouldn’t have been ruled low by the referee.
Ball felt it landed on his “belly,” which would have resulted in Dubois winning by a fifth-round knockout. Usyk stayed down on the canvas for three minutes and forty-five seconds before getting back up.
Nick Ball on Dubois’s Body Shot Strategy
The featherweight champion Ball believes that Usyk’s weakness is in the body, and he thinks Dubois can capitalize on this if he targets that area. Nick believes the outcome of the Usyk vs Dubois 2 rematch could be determined by the body punching from Daniel.
Dubois was later dropped in the ninth round by Usyk in what looked like a quit job on the young Daniel’s part. The way he bowed out of the fight made fans forget about his being potentially robbed of a victory with the missed call in the fifth round.
Dubois will have to show more toughness in the rematch because if he quits when the tough gets going, he’ll never get the chance to target Usyk’s weaknesses in the body.
“Yeah, 100%. Daniel is on a roll, and in the first one, he hurt him,” said Nick Ball to Secondsout when asked if Daniel Dubois can defeat Oleksandr Usyk in the rematch. “When he catches him in the second one, he can potentially take him out.”
Usyk will make it difficult for Dubois to land on his body by constantly moving, stabbing him with his jabs, and clinching when he gets on the inside.
“I thought it was all right,” said Ball when asked if he thought the shot that Dubois dropped Usyk with in the fifth round of the first fight was low. “Yeah, he got hit with a body punch. It was in the body, and he went down and stayed down, and he was hurt. Yeah, that’s his weakness. So, use it against him to take him out.”
Last Updated on 05/22/2025
