WEMBLEY, NORTH LONDON -- One month shy of two years since their first meeting, Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) and Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) will do battle again in a different setting - home turf for the British champion - the scene of his career-best stoppage win over Anthony Joshua last September.
Double the size of Wroclaw Stadium, Wembley will play home to Dubois' attempt at redemption when facing the unbeaten Ukrainian unified king, who relinquished the IBF strap last summer to facilitate Dubois-Joshua for a recently-vacant title.
During their Tuesday presser, Dubois' head coach Don Charles gave Usyk his plaudits but maintained a defiant stance that Usyk's subtle tactics - gesticulating and complaining every time a body shot landed low - from minute one pressured referee Luis Pabon into a mistake, en route to a ninth-round stoppage victory.
"Me as a boxing coach, I have a lot of respect for you. It's remarkable but disappoints me that you can stoop so low, print the actual shot that had you trembling, the acting you did that night... you deserve an Oscar or Emmy award for the performance. You conned the referee, us, the boxing world, I've always maintained that and will, you pride yourself as a God-fearing man, thou shall not lie."
Team Usyk brought a selction of pictures with them, ranging from fight night images showing Dubois punching low to some annotated diagrams of where across the body it is acceptable and conversely illegal, to connect.
Dubois, unimpressed, reluctantly signed some - much like Tyson Fury before his December 22 rematch - while Don Charles' son and former pro boxer Daniel Fox made his displeasure about the gesture known among the assembled media.
Usyk was given ample recovery time after suffering a fifth-round body punch deemed low by Puerto Rican referee Luis Pabon, though Dubois was not deducted a point and the post-fight fallout surrounded that round's contentious events.
"God has summoned you for Daniel to get revenge," Charles continued.
Usyk's manager Egis Klimas warned Charles against declaring his fighter a cheat, saying any accusations or questions should be levelled at the 32-year pro referee.
When asked by Dev Sahni whether Usyk would've made the count had it been deemed legal, Charles was unequivocal with his stance.
"I was two metres away from the incident, not because he's my fighter but there's no way in the world... his central nervous system was shut down, that's why he was trembling. At no point did he grab the area supposedly hit, you reach for your groin but he was by his stomach area.
"He conditioned the referee prior to that punch, pointing there all the time, he's only a human being and panicked. When you get to a certain level, you get favouritism, he had already been conditioned. Go examine it with a panel, in-fact, you don't need that because on July 19, we'll dissect and investigate you, you'll get found out."
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