“To beat Oleksandr Usyk, you have to be mentally disturbed in the head.” This is what Derek Chisora said a few days ago, sharing his verdict on the undisputed heavyweight clash between Daniel Dubois and Oleksandr Usyk. Come fight night, these words echoed through Wembley as ‘The Cat’ made light work of Dubois, knocking him out in the fifth round.

From the first bell, the new undisputed heavyweight champion put on a practically faultless show. On the other hand, even after months of trash talk, “The Dynamite” couldn’t get back at Usyk for beating him in 2023. After the battle, fans and experts swarmed the internet with ideas about why the 27-year-old lost. Derek Chisora also weighed in during the chaos, saying that Dubois’ loss wasn’t because of mistakes he made, but because he just gave up.

Daniel Dubois showed no improvement

Right after the Wembley Stadium event, SecondsOut caught up with Derek Chisora for an exclusive interview. “He quit,” ‘The War’ stated immediately, sharing his verdict on the fight. As expected, the answer left the interviewer confused, so he probed further. “Yeah, man, they quit,” Chisora said, doubling down on his claims. “They were supposed to train different. They did not. It was set for him to win it,” he added, claiming that Dubois’ team did not do anything different from the previous fight.

“It’s a tough call to say that he quit because that means that he could have continued and just decided not to. You believe that’s what’s happened,” the interviewer asked again, still trying to make sense of Chisora’s statement. However, ‘The War’ was not referring to the knockout blow but rather how Daniel Dubois entered the fight. “I tell you when he quit. He quit when he walked in the ring, because he did not use his double jab. He did not hunt the way he was hunting AJ,” he explained, claiming that the 27-year-old lacked his killer instinct.

“We came to see him go nuts. He didn’t go nuts, he was holding back. Everybody was there for Daniel, do you understand? It was his to win,” he concluded. So, in simple terms, Derek Chisora believes that Daniel Dubois let the pressure get the better of him. He wasn’t himself, and against a boxer like Oleksandr Usyk, that is never a good idea.

It looks like everyone in the boxing world agrees on this. People think that “DDD” couldn’t handle the pressure and didn’t live up to the hype. Lennox Lewis, a famous boxer, also said something like this.

Oleksandr Usyk: The Greatest We Have

In an interview with IFL TV’s Kugan Cassius, former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis praised Usyk’s performance. On the other hand, he believed that Daniel Dubois never found his rhythm, something Derek Chisora also implied. “I felt Daniel came out a bit too strong; should have taken his time. Especially the first round. But he was overreaching a bit, and he got caught,” he stated.

Lewis further praised Oleksandr Usyk’s incredible achievements, especially given that he’s not a natural heavyweight. “I wish I was in this era to box. Because I would have loved to box him,” he remarked. Such high praise from one of boxing’s all-time greats speaks volumes. Yet, Lewis remains baffled that no one has cracked Usyk’s code, confidently stating,” I would be able to figure him out,” asking the other heavyweights to step up. However, in the end, he acknowledged Oleksandr Usyk’s greatness, declaring him the “best of this era,” and the win against Daniel Dubois just proved that.

After the disappointing result, it is time for Daniel Dubois to go back to the drawing board. He is only 27 and, despite a few setbacks, has a very high ceiling. One that, if achieved, will be a treat for all the fans who stuck beside him. What do you think?