World undisputed heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk has a tough fight coming up in July, when the 38-year-old Ukranian will take on British 27-year-old heavyweight Daniel Dubois on July 19 at Wembley Stadium in London. But according to media reports over the weekend, Dubois might not even be the biggest partner on Usyk’s dance card.
The undefeated (23-0, 14 knockouts) champion â who moved up from cruiserweight where he also held the unified belt â stopped Dubois once already, in their August 26, 2023 title fight in Poland.
But in that bout, Dubois sent Usyk to the canvas with a body shot in the fifth round. The punch was ruled a low blow, no referee’s count took place and the champion was allowed the time he needed to recover. Dubois and his camp claimed the body blow was a legal punch.
“I’ve been cheated out of victory,” said Dubois after the fight, as quoted by ESPN, and he has pursued a rematch ever since. That rematch will finally take place nearly two years later.
Usyk and Dubois Fight to Re-Unify Title
Dubois currently holds the IBF heavyweight title, which he won when Usyk vacated the belt to take a contractually required rematch against Tyson Fury. Usyk overcame a significant size and reach advantage to earn a split decision over Fury a year ago and in so doing, became the first unified heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis held all four belts in 1999 and 2000.
That gave Dubois the chance to battle Anthony Joshua for the vacant title. Dubois dominated that fight, stopping his fellow British heavyweight in five rounds â and setting up the Usyk rematch to unify the title once again.
But will the Ukranian boxer, who has said he will fight only two more times before retiring, be looking past Dubois to his final fight, possibly risking the chance to become only the second heavyweight champion to retire undefeated?
According to multiple media reports, Usyk’s handlers have reached out to YouTube influencer-turned- boxer Jake Paul, for what would be the highest-profile fight of Usyk’s career â though according to the media accounts, it would not be a boxing match at all.
Jake Paul and Oleksandr Usyk are officially in discussions for an MMA fight next year ð³ pic.twitter.com/qPr8cwznEq
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) May 15, 2025
Reportedly, Usyk is seeking to take on Paul, who is 10 years his junior, not in the ring but in the cage.
“Thatâs something Iâm super, super interested in, and I think it would be a very, very big spectacle,” Paul said recently. “We would need to find the right opponent. Usyk, maybe.”
Paul Has Skill For Creating Spectacle
The 11-1 Paul, who calls himself “The Problem Child,” definitely knows what makes a “very very big spectacle.” In addition to having built one of the internet’s most successful YouTube channels, with about 21 million subscribers and which routinely draws multiple millions of views on each video he posts, Paul’s last fight came last November against 58-year-old Mike Tyson.
It was a ridiculous event won by Paul via decision over eight, two-minute rounds â but nonetheless the fight became the most-streamed “sports” event in history with a reported 108 million viewers watching the “spectacle” on the internet worldwide.
Paul is under contract to the Professional Fighters League, a leading MMA organization, but has never fought in the SmartCage â the 10-sided structure used to stage PFL fights. But PFL Europe’s Head of Fighter Operations Dan Hardy has said that Usyk “is absolutely dead serious about fighting in MMA,” as quoted by the Daily Mail. “I can tell you that for sure. Which would be incredibly exciting because I think he would be lethal.”
Usyk has not confirmed that he is seeking to fight Paul in a PFL match. Paul must first meet Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in he ring on June 28, in a fight set for the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Like Heavy Sports's content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Jake Paul Says Heavyweight Champ Oleksandr Usyk Wants Fight — in MMA Match appeared first on Heavy Sports.
