One of Usyk's toughest challenges since moving up to heavyweight came last August when he faced Daniel Dubois. During the fight, Dubois landed a punch that the referee ruled as too low, giving Usyk time to recover. Many felt the shot was legitimate and that the referee should have started a ten count. Instead, Usyk took his time, bounced back, and knocked Dubois out in the ninth round.
Dubois has since earned a big knockout victory of his own, but tensions between the two camps have only escalated. In a fiery interview with talkSPORT, Dubois' trainer, Don Charles, accused Usyk of being a cheat for how he handled that controversial moment during their fight.
With Dubois' recent knockout win over Anthony Joshua, he's now firmly back in the conversation for a shot at all the world heavyweight titles.
“Everything was stacked up against us, we knew about it, we knew about everything. This is actually personal. I shouldn’t make it personal, it’s always about the fighters, and it still is about the fighters. I don’t get in the ring to take punches or give punches.
Mr Usyk is fake. Exceptional boxer, masterful boxer, a genius of what he’s done and what he can do. But he’s a fake and he’s a liar and a cheat. It’s well documented. He is a guy who says he’s a God fearing man, he’s always crossing himself.
This is going out to Usyk – if you believe in the same God that I and the world population do, what we refer to as God, one of the ten commandments is you cannot cheat. That’s against one of the ten commandments. Make your mind up, do you worship God or not? Because if you do, the cheating and the acting he did when Daniel dropped him, he should win an Oscar for that acting.”