It is the hardest week in the boxing life and times of Daniel Dubois. On Saturday night, at an outdoor venue in Poland, he will walk to the ring first and listen as nearly 40,000 cheer for Ukrainian fighting and boxing idol Oleksandr Usyk. It is a unique set of events, a world heavyweight title fight packed with emotion and pride for Usyk and the millions of Ukrainians living in Poland or close to the border. It is a homecoming made necessary away from home, a vital piece of resistance in the bloody war. Usyk will be fighting closer to his Kyiv home than he has in eight years; the 36-year-old, remember, won his cruiserweight world titles on the road in Poland, Latvia and Russia. He defended the belts against local fighters in Germany, America and England. He is a boxing treasure, unbeaten now in 20 fights, an Olympic gold medalist, a volunteer in the Ukraine defence force. He might just be changing the dictionary definition of ‘national idol’. • Get all the latest Usyk vs Dubois betting sites’ offers In late 2021, he won the three heavyweight belts that he still holds by beating Anthony Joshua at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, fewer than 15 miles from where Joshua lives. The fight on Saturday in Wroclaw is the Usyk homecoming, make no mistake. His fans can take a bus for less than 20 quid from Kyiv to Wroclaw; it takes 18 hours, but that makes it even more of a pilgrimage to watch a national hero fight. And they will come. The beautiful gothic city on the Oder River will be overrun this weekend. The flags will be out. Dubois will finally, for the first time in his short but intense boxing life, have no pressure on his shoulders. The 25-year-old will start as the underdog for the first time in 21 fights. He turned professional in 2017 when he was just a wide-eyed teenager; his progression was deceptive, and he was made to feel invincible against many men who had no chance. In 2020, there was a bad, bad night behind closed doors and under Covid restrictions. Dubois was unbeaten in 15 fights at the time and was matched with Joe Joyce, who was also unbeaten. Dubois had stopped or knocked out 14 of his 15 victims. It was a spectacular fight with Joyce, a spectacular mistake, and Dubois – in front on two scorecards – took a knee in Round 10. His left cheekbone was damaged, his vision gone from that eye, and his resistance broken. It was harsh, a reminder that even in modern boxing there are real dangers. It was not over, and Dubois was made again – a bit smarter, a bit wiser and a better heavyweight for the loss. He changed trainers, moved from Martin Bowers to Shane McGuigan. Since the Joyce defeat, Dubois has fought and won four times, stopping his men in the second, first, fourth and third rounds. A couple of months ago, at about the time the Usyk fight was agreed, Dubois left McGuigan and joined Don Charles, an underrated and cute trainer. The fight’s simple – but misleading – narrative seems to be that Dubois has a puncher’s chance; well, all heavyweights have a puncher’s chance. Anthony Joshua went 24 rounds with Usyk, and he most definitely had a puncher’s chance. To beat Usyk, you need far more than a puncher’s chance. Thankfully, Charles understands the game. “You have to be busy, you have to make him fight, you have to make it physical, and Daniel can do that,” Charles said. The pair seem to have bonded very quickly. In 2012, Charles took Derek Chisora to Munich to fight world heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, who was a knockout machine. “Del Boy” lost on points, but he applied pressure, got close, whacked away, and dealt with the partisan crowd. The WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight belts are the official prizes, and the fight went to purse bids; Dubois will clear about $2m on the night. However, the real prize is in the upset and the cash windfall that will land with the disruption caused. Don Charles can help Dubois on Saturday. And Dubois will need all the help he can get to silence the crowd and hurt Usyk. Read More Anthony Joshua has the blueprint to beat Deontay Wilder – is he brave enough to use it? Sean O’Malley becomes newest UFC superstar with one-punch KO of Aljamain Sterling Alycia Baumgardner refuses to stay ‘silent’ after failed drug test Oleksandr Usyk keeps press conference short ahead of Daniel Dubois title clash Who is fighting on Usyk vs Dubois undercard this weekend? What time does Usyk vs Dubois start this weekend?

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Republic of Ireland defender Louise Quinn is confident the Girls in Green have a plan in place to shut down prolific Australia striker Sam Kerr when they face the hosts in their World Cup opener. Quinn’s side, after all, have done it before, spoiling the Chelsea forward’s 100th appearance for the Matildas with a 3-2 victory when they met for the first time in history at Tallaght Stadium in September 2021. Dublin native Quinn powered in a second-half header to break the deadlock and memorably hand the Republic their biggest win over a higher-ranked opponent in over two decades. “It’s rare but I felt like I got one up on her with the Irish team in Tallaght and that is something that I will carry forward with me,” said Quinn, speaking during a team training session at Brisbane’s Meakin Park. “But she’s very impressive, she’s very strong, easily one of the best strikers in the world now. For me, you concentrate on the whole thing but I definitely have an individual battle on my hands that is essentially what I want. “What I want to so is to not let her score essentially. Keep her out of the game. She really creates moments out of nothing but it has to be 100 per cent for the 90 minutes. “Yeah, she runs off the back shoulders a lot. She is so nippy that she can come around the front and come off your blindside and make runs in behind. I can’t wait for the challenge to be honest, this is what you play for, to play against the very best in the world. And she is one of the best. “We’ve proved before against Australia that we can put something up against her and she was on the pitch that day and had her chances.” Matildas captain Kerr, Australia’s top goal-scorer of either gender with 63 from 121 caps, was named the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) Women’s Footballer of the Year for a second straight season after a 2022/23 campaign that saw her score 17 goals and pick up six assists across the Women’s Super League and Champions League. She was largely shut down at Tallaght, where Mary Fowler netted two to keep Australia in a game Matildas head coach Tony Gustavsson would later tell media he felt was “some kind of record” for the number of technical mistakes he observed in his side. They will have to do better to impress the 80,000-plus crowd who have sold out Sydney’s Stadium Australia on Thursday night, the second contest on a two-match opening day beginning with co-hosts New Zealand’s meeting with Norway in Auckland. Sunday was a recovery day for the Republic, who are hoping midfielder Denise O’Sullivan will be fit in time for the biggest day in team history after she was injured in their aborted friendly with Colombia. An initial X-ray and CT scan encouragingly showed no fracture to O’Sullivan’s shin, and she will be assessed again on Monday afternoon. Quinn’s name will forever go down in history as one of 23 selected to represent her country in their first World Cup. It is an astonishing accomplishment that has struck her sharply and sporadically, often when she has least expected it. She said: “I had a really random one after the Zambia game and we had a weekend off. “I was just chatting to my girlfriend about something, and I was saying ‘I’ll do that after I get back from the World Cup.’ And I actually stopped for a second and realised that yes, I am going to a World Cup. “And I had to stop for a moment. I got emotional. Because we’ve been talking about this all along but now it’s really confirmed. It hit me. We were just getting the dinner ready and chatting, ‘We’ll do this after the World Cup. It was really bizarre, a really emotional moment and I didn’t think that was going to happen.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live On this day in 2016: N’Golo Kante swaps Leicester for Chelsea Carlos Alcaraz out to end Novak Djokovic’s reign in Wimbledon final for the ages Somerset’s Lewis Gregory relieved to shed ‘nearly men’ tag after Blast title win

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