Daniel Dubois has warned that Canelo Alvarez will “lose his money” after the undisputed super-middleweight world champion placed a massive bet on Oleksandr Usyk to win Saturday’s high-profile rematch at Wembley Stadium.
Usyk and Dubois clash for the second time this weekend for all the world titles at heavyweight, two years after the Briton was stopped in the ninth round of a controversial fight in Poland in which Usyk was floored in the fifth by a shot that was ruled a low blow and given four minutes to recover.
Dubois has become a world champion since then by being awarded the IBF belt as mandatory challenger that Usyk was forced to vacate between his thrilling points wins over Tyson Fury in 2024, defending it successfully for the first time with a brutal fifth-round knockout of Anthony Joshua at Wembley last September before illness then forced him to pull out of a meeting with Joseph Parker in Riyadh in February.
There are those, including promoter Frank Warren, who believe that this improved version of Dubois can make history in front of 90,000 fans on Saturday night and become the first man to beat Usyk in the professional ranks, gaining revenge for that contentious loss in Wroclaw in the process and becoming the first British undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis achieved the feat in 1999 and only the second ever.
However, that number does not include Canelo, who is so confident that fellow pound-for-pound great Usyk will become a three-time undisputed champion that earlier this week he placed a $500,000 bet on the Ukrainian to win which would net him $630,000 in return.
Explaining that decision to his followers on social media website X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: “Over the past five years, Usyk has beaten the best. Oleksandr has very strong stamina; he’s very technical and smart.
“When I see someone with that kind of focus, I back them. That’s why I placed a big bet on his victory. Oleksandr, you do you!”
Over the past five years, Usyk has beaten the best. Oleksandr has very strong stamina; he’s very technical and smart. When I see someone with that kind of focus, I back them. That’s why I placed a big bet on his victory. Oleksandr, you do you! https://t.co/eBmeGChs3y
— Canelo Alvarez (@Canelo) July 11, 2025
Such a lack of faith from arguably boxing’s biggest global superstar - himself a two-time undisputed champion who fights Terence Crawford in a blockbuster showdown in Las Vegas in September - does not seem to have fazed Dubois, who is fully confident in his ability to cause an upset on home soil in London.
“It doesn’t mean anything to me,” he said when asked about Canelo’s bet during Thursday’s final pre-fight press conference at Wembley.
“It doesn’t mean s**t to me, that. He’s going to lose his money. I’m just focused now, let’s get it on.”
Dubois said earlier: “I prepared right. I'm on a different level now and ready to come through whatever on Saturday to get those belts.
“This is history-making. I've got to do a real demolition job. I'm hungry and ready for it.
“I'm going to write my own script. They've got their script and I'll write my own. I'm going to win these belts and I'm going to be the man.
“I'm going to make it a great fight. I'm looking forward to it and I'm at the peak of my powers.”
