Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter says Daniel Dubois could cause an upset like Hasim Rahman did against Lennox Lewis

Oleksandr Usyk's promoter Alex Krassyuk has made it clear that if he did not think Daniel Dubois could beat his fighter, he would not make the clash.

The Ukrainian recently looked set to be fighting Tyson Fury for the undisputed heavyweight world titles, but as is so often the case in boxing, negotiations collapsed and so the bout will not be happening.

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Now, the unified WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight world champion will have to take on his mandatory challengers instead, starting with WBA contender Dubois.

The Brit has previously been beaten by Joe Joyce and he would be a huge underdog going into a clash with Usyk.

But, Usyk's promoter Krassyuk has compared the fight to Lennox Lewis vs Hasim Rahman, when the South African shocked the world by KOing his British rival.

Krassyuk has hinted Dubois could pull off a similar upset against Usyk, as he told marvelbet369.com when asked whether 'Dynamite' stands a chance against the Ukrainian: "Otherwise there would be no fight...

"Everyone can knock the guy out when he comes to the ring.

"Just remember when Hasim Rahman fought Lennox Lewis for the first time. Who could imagine? No-one could, and the same thing could happen in this fight.

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"But, Usyk is really professional and he takes it really seriously no matter who his opponent is, the training camp is the same, same exercises, same discipline, same regime, getting up at 5am, it's the same.

"The thing that can differ is the motivation, because when you're supposed to fight Tyson Fury you have in your mind that you're going to overcome a substantial challenge in your life.

"But, when it comes to Daniel Dubois, who is the underdog in the fight, it swaps the mindset, but for Usyk it is absolutely manageable."

Krassyuk went on to explain that there is a chance the Dubois fight may not go ahead unless the Brit can prove his fitness, as he suffered an injury in his last fight against Kevin Lerena, and Usyk will not accept two cancelled fights back to back.

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"The issue we are trying to work out now, which is really substantial for us is his health condition," Krassyuk said.

"We all saw what kind of injury he suffered in his last fight with Lerena and it leaves us with the idea that this fight made some damage to his health and he has to recover 100 per cent to start the new preparation.

";Our biggest risk and threat that we want to avoid is when the deal is done and the date is fixed and we start the promotions and Daniel puts some pressure on himself in the gym, suddenly the injury comes back again.

"That would jeopardise the show and cancel it again and we want to avoid it because it will be really bad for Usyk to have two cancellations in a row."