Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois will stage Britain’s first undisputed heavyweight title fight on 19 July at Wembley Stadium. Promoters Queensberry and Ready To Fight confirmed the date after Riyadh Season bankrolled a deal that reunites the IBF belt Dubois now owns with Usyk’s WBA, WBC and WBO straps.
Their rematch arrives two years after the contentious night in Wroclaw when Dubois dropped Usyk with a fifth-round body shot that referee Luis Pabón ruled low; Usyk recovered and stopped the Londoner in nine. Since that defeat Dubois has transformed his profile, halting Jarrell Miller in ten, breaking Filip Hrgovic in eight to lift the vacant IBF title, and flooring Anthony Joshua four times before a fifth-round knockout in front of 96,000 at Wembley last September.
Watch Usyk vs. Dubois highlights: Watch
Usyk has remained perfect, outboxing and then conclusively beating Tyson Fury twice - points in May 2024, then a wider unanimous verdict in the December rematch - to become the first four-belt heavyweight champion and the consensus pound-for-pound No 1. He relinquished the IBF title to honour the second Fury bout, joking this week, “Thank you, Daniel, for guarding my belt - now I want it back.”
Dubois calls the return “unfinished business,” insisting the belt-line punch should have ended their first encounter: “I’m a superior, more dangerous fighter now, and I get to prove it at the national stadium in my city.”
The undercard insludes a collision of ex-world champions as hometown puncher Lawrence “The Sauce” Okolie defends his WBC Silver heavyweight strap against South African southpaw Kevin “Two Guns” Lerena in a scheduled 12-rounder .
For Okolie (21-1, 16 KOs) the bout represents chapter three of a rebuilding mission that began after last year’s narrow loss to Chris Billam-Smith. Since then the 32-year-old has blasted out Luke Watkins and Hussein Muhamed in a combined four rounds, and a statement win here would catapult the former cruiserweight ruler toward full WBC contention in boxing’s glamour division.
Watch Okolie vs. Muhamed highlights: Watch
Lerena (31-3, 15 KOs) knows the stakes are identical. The Johannesburg slickster has already given heavyweight giants Daniel Dubois and Justis Huni stern tests, and he re-entered the win column in May by flattening Serhiy Radchenko in three. Victory on British soil would be Lerena’s passport back to the title conversation - and perhaps a rematch with Dubois should the main event tilt his way.
The Wembley undercard deepens further with a battle of unbeaten 175-pounders: Ukraine’s rangy southpaw Daniel Lapin (11-0, 4 KOs) risks his IBF Intercontinental and WBA Continental belts against slick Southampton technician Lewis Edmondson (11-0, 3 KOs) in a 10-rounder that promises pure chess.
Add those ingredients to Oleksandr Usyk’s heavyweight coronation rematch with Dubois and July 19 now reads like a summer blockbuster: championship hardware, contrasting styles, and perilous crossroads for every fighter involved. Wembley’s cauldron will decide who climbs a rung closer to global glory - and who tumbles back into the chasing pack.
Fight card:
▪️Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois, 12 rounds, for the IBF, IBO, WBC and WBO World heavyweight titles
▪️Lawrence Okolie vs. Kevin Lerena, 12 rounds, for the WBC Silver heavyweight title
▪️Daniel Lapin vs. Lewis Edmondson, 10 rounds, for the IBF Inter-Continental light heavyweight title
