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<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Wardley will defend his WBO heavyweight title against Dubois on Saturday in Manchester, and Usyk\u2019s team says a victory there would move him much closer to a future unification fight. The unbeaten Usyk currently holds the WBC, WBA, and IBF heavyweight titles after vacating the WBO belt earlier this year.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Fabio Wardley proves himself at the highest level, he can definitely become part of that conversation,\u201d said Sergey Lapin to Sky Sports Boxing<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBecoming a three-time undisputed heavyweight champion would be something historic, and Oleksandr is always motivated by the biggest challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, we don\u2019t build our plans around one name or one outcome. There are several strong contenders in the division, and we are focused on the biggest and most meaningful fights available.\u201d<\/p>\n Wardley pushed himself into the heavyweight title picture with comeback wins over Joseph Parker and Justis Huni, but the Dubois fight is viewed as a much different test because of Dubois\u2019 power and experience against top-level opposition.<\/p>\n Usyk, meanwhile, is preparing for next month\u2019s fight against Rico Verhoeven in Giza before making decisions about his heavyweight future. Agit Kabayel is also being discussed as a possible opponent because of his WBC position.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it\u2019s Fabio Wardley, it could potentially be for undisputed. If it\u2019s Agit Kabayel, it would more likely be a title defence.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we don\u2019t like to look too far ahead. Right now, we have a fight with Rico Verhoeven, and all our focus is on that,\u201d said Lapin.<\/p>\n Usyk has already become undisputed at cruiserweight and twice at heavyweight, leaving his team balancing legacy fights with business opportunities at this late stage of his career.<\/p>\n \u201cFor many years Oleksandr accepted fights based mainly on sporting value, often without focusing on the business side. He was building his legacy.<\/p>\n \u201cNow it\u2019s different. At this stage, both sporting and business factors matter,\u201d said Sergey.<\/p>\n Olly Campbell is a boxing journalist who has covered the sport since 2014, providing ringside reporting and technical analysis of major bouts. His work focuses on fighter tendencies, tactical adjustments, and the details that shape high-level competition.<\/p>\n Boxing News 24<\/a> \u00bb Daniel Dubois<\/a> \u00bb Oleksandr Usyk Team Tells Fabio Wardley To Beat Daniel Dubois First<\/p>\n Last Updated on 2026\/05\/08 at 12:27 PM \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fabio Wardley\u2019s path to an undisputed heavyweight fight with Oleksandr Usyk appears to run directly through Daniel Dubois.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-573893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Add](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/google.png\"\/)
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