Unified WBA/WBO/IBF heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, who fights from the southpaw stance, retained his titles when he knocked out the WBA regular champion Daniel Dubois in the eighth round on Saturday night in a rainstorm at the Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, Poland.
Usyk was in control through the first four rounds as he completely dominated, but in the fifth round, Usyk dropped to the canvas from a low blow and was in obvious pain.
After being given time to recover by the referee, he continued to outscore Dubois even though Dubois did score with a few shots to the body with very little effect. The time was 48 seconds.
South Africa’s Stan Christodoulou, who was one of the judges, achieved two milestones: 50 years of world titles and 60 years as a boxing official.
UNDERCARD
WBO No 4 lightweight Denys Berinchyk (18-0; 9) outpointed Anthony Yigit (27-4-1; 10) over 12 rounds to retain his WBO International belt. The scores were 117-111, 115-113, and 116-112.
In a middleweight fight, WBO No 6 Hamzah Sheeraz (18-0; 14) stopped Dmitry Mytrofanov (13-1-1; 6) in the second round in a bout for the WBC silver title.
WBC No 5, IBF No 7, WBO No 7, WBA No 14 middleweight Fiodor Cherkaszyn (22-1; 14) lost on an eighth-round majority decision against Anuel Ngamissengue (13-0; 8).
Welterweight Vasile Cebotari (14-0; 6) stopped Joel Julio (39-18; 33) in the sixth round.
Anderson stops Rudenko
WBO No 5, WBA No 7, and IBF No 15 heavyweight Jared “The Real Big Baby” Anderson (16-0; 15) stopped Andriy Rudenko (35-7; 21) in the fifth round on Saturday night at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
After a barrage of punches in the fifth round from Anderson, the referee stopped the fight. The time was 1:40.
WBC No 14 heavyweight Efe Ajagba (18-1; 13) won on a fourth-round disqualification against Zhan Kossobutskiy (19-1; 18).