Former world champion Carl Frampton has explained how he thinks Daniel Dubois could defeat Oleksandr Usyk next week
The pair fight in Poland with the unified world champion hoping to defeat his WBA mandatory challenger ahead of a potential clash with WBC champion Tyson Fury to decide the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
Should Dubois pull off an upset then he would doubtless want the same fight, but the Ukrainian is the heavy favourite as the incumbent WBO, IBF and WBA champion, and a former undisputed cruiserweight.
Nevertheless, speaking on TNT Sport, Frampton thinks that there are questions over Usyk’s track record in the heavyweight division, and suggested that with the pressure off the Briton, he could hope to push Usyk for energy and hope his superior talent will tell.
He said: “I think the confidence is genuine from Frank [Warren].
“I think Dubois and Don Charles are also confident going into this fight. There is a case to be made that he can win this fight, I think he’s been really unfairly written off. You’ve got to look at what Usyk’s done. He had a couple of fights against [Chazz] Witherspoon, a fight against Chisora, and then two fights against a version of [Anthony] Joshua we’re not quite sure about, so the kid has a chance.
“If he uses all his energy up, he really has a chance. I don’t think Usyk is going to knock him out in one single shot. If there’s one who can get knocked out in one single shot, it’s Usyk who can get knocked out by Daniel Dubois, because he’s the puncher in the fight.
“There isn’t really any pressure on him. All those other occasions, Joe Joyce, loads of pressure on him. There’s pressure on you because everyone expects him to win. Nobody expects him to win here except Frank Warren and their own people, but he definitely does have a chance.”