Joshua-Dubois set for Sept. 21 after Usyk vacates IBF title
Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois will square off Sept. 21 at London's Wembley Stadium for the IBF heavyweight championship, it was announced Wednesday.
Oleksandr Usyk, now the former undisputed heavyweight champion, said Tuesday he was giving up the IBF belt.
Dubois was the IBF interim champion and has been upgraded to full champ, so the Joshua fight will be his first title defense.
"Anthony and Daniel, listen. I know (the) IBF title (is) important to you," Usyk said in a video posted on X. "It is my present to you on Sept. 21."
Usyk became the undisputed heavyweight champion - the first since 2000 and of the four-belt era - with a split-decision win over Tyson Fury on May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Fury and Usyk agreed to a two-fight deal and are scheduled to meet in an immediate rematch Dec. 21 in Riyadh for the WBC, WBA, and WBO heavyweight titles. It was expected that Usyk would give up the IBF belt soon after the victory over Fury, as the IBF ruled that the winner must complete a mandatory defense next.
Dubois earned the IBF interim heavyweight title with a career-best eighth-round TKO win over Filip Hrgovic on June 1. The 26-year-old London native fell short in a WBA, IBF, and WBO title fight against Usyk last August but has since rebounded with two straight wins.
Joshua, a former two-time heavyweight champion, is riding a four-fight winning streak. The 36-year-old from Watford, England, is coming off a devastating knockout victory over former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in March. Joshua has lost twice to Usyk, both via decision in 2021 and 2022.
Joshua and Dubois needed to be held back from each other while filming a face-to-face sitdown interview Wednesday, Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn said, according to Michael Benson of talkSPORT.
Hearn recently said he wanted to see the winner of a potential Joshua-Dubois bout take on the Usyk-Fury 2 winner for the undisputed crown in 2025.
Joshua-Dubois will be the first event held in the U.K. by Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority.