Germany’s Klara Bühl and Ann-Katrin Berger celebrate after winning the penalty shootout against France in the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 quarter-final at St Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland, on July 20, 2025. — Reuters
Down to ten players early on, Germany fought back to level against France and booked a Euro 2025 semi-final clash with Spain after a dramatic shootout sealed by Ann-Katrin Berger’s match-winning save.
Germany edged past France 6-5 in a penalty shootout after the bruising contest ended 1-1 after extra time on Saturday.
Germany fought back brilliantly from both a goal down and a straight red card shown to defender Kathrin Hendrich just 13 minutes in. They battled hard and eventually outlasted the French in a thrilling shootout.
Hendrich was dismissed following a VAR review that showed her pulling Griedge Mbock Bathy’s hair in the box. Grace Geyoro converted the resulting penalty, just squeezing it past Berger despite the keeper getting a strong hand to the ball.
Under pressure and shorthanded, Germany found a quick response. Sjoeke Nusken caught the French defence off guard by darting in to meet Klara Bühl’s near-post corner and heading home in the 25th minute.
Germany then defended bravely, with France having two goals disallowed for offside. Nusken later saw her second-half penalty saved.
Even before the shootout, Berger made a contender for ‘save of the tournament’ by back-pedalling and diving acrobatically to claw away Janina Minge’s misjudged defensive header, keeping the scores level.
With no goals in extra time, the match went to penalties. Berger gave Germany the perfect start by saving Amel Majri’s effort. The French levelled the shootout when Sara Dabritz struck the bar and missed.
Berger — a cancer survivor with a tattoo over her treatment scar that reads “All we have is now” — stepped up to convert her own penalty, then secured Germany’s win with a superb diving save to her left, denying 21-year-old Alice Sombath.
Germany will now face Spain in the semi-finals on Wednesday, the day after England play Italy in the other last-four clash.
“We knew we’d done the hardest part by scoring first against 10 players. Penalties are always tough. It’s hard on Alice — she’s young and still learning. But you have to give credit to Germany,” said France coach Laurent Bonadei.
Raquel Celina Rodriguez watches her step as she walks across the Vega de Tilopozo in Chile’s Atacama salt flats.
It’s a wetland, known for its groundwater springs, but the plain is now dry and cracked with holes she explains were once pools.
“Before, the Vega was all green,” she says. “You couldn’t see the animals through the grass. Now everything is dry.” She gestures to some grazing llamas.
For generations, her family raised sheep here. As the climate changed, and rain stopped falling, less grass made that much harder.
But it worsened when “they” started taking the water, she explains.
Ben Derico/BBC
Raquel’s family raised sheep in Chile’s Atacama salt flats for generations but now everything is dry, she says
“They” are lithium companies. Beneath the salt flats of the Atacama Desert lie the world’s largest reserves of lithium, a soft, silvery-white metal that is an essential component of the batteries that power electric cars, laptops and solar energy storage.
As the world transitions to more renewable energy sources, the demand for it has soared.
In 2021, about 95,000 tonnes of lithium was consumed globally – by 2024 it had more than doubled to 205,000 tonnes, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
By 2040 it’s predicted to rise to more than 900,000 tonnes.
Most of the increase will be driven by demand for electric car batteries, the IEA says.
Locals say environmental costs to them have risen too.
So, this soaring demand has raised the question: is the world’s race to decarbonise unintentionally stoking another environmental problem?
Flora, flamingos and shrinking lagoons
Chile is the second-largest producer of lithium globally after Australia. In 2023, the government launched a National Lithium Strategy to ramp up production through partly nationalising the industry and encouraging private investment.
Its finance minister previously said the increase in production could be by up to 70% by 2030, although the mining ministry says no target has been set.
This year, a major milestone to that is set to be reached.
Ben Derico/BBC
The process extracts vast amounts of water in this already drought-prone region
A planned joint enterprise between SQM and Chile’s state mining company Codelco has just secured regulatory approval for a quota to extract at least 2.5 million metric tonnes of lithium metal equivalent per year and boost production until 2060.
Chile’s government has framed the plans as part of the global fight against climate change and a source of state income.
Mining companies predominantly extract lithium by pumping brine from beneath Chile’s salt flats to evaporation pools on the surface.
The process extracts vast amounts of water in this already drought-prone region.
Ben Derico/BBC
Biologist Faviola González monitors environmental changes in the Los Flamencos National Reserve, which is home to salt flats, marshes and lagoons
Faviola Gonzalez is a biologist from the local indigenous community working in the Los Flamencos National Reserve, in the middle of the Atacama Desert, home to vast salt flats, marshes and lagoons and some 185 species of birds. She has monitored how the local environment is changing.
“The lagoons here are smaller now,” she says. “We’ve seen a decrease in the reproduction of flamingos.”
She said lithium mining impacts microorganisms that birds feed on in these waters, so the whole food chain is affected.
She points to a spot where, for the first time in 14 years, flamingo chicks hatched this year. She attributes the “small reproductive success” to a slight reduction in water extraction in 2021, but says, “It’s small.”
“Before there were many. Now, only a few.”
The underground water from the Andes, rich in minerals, is “very old” and replenishes slowly.
“If we are extracting a lot of water and little is entering, there is little to recharge the Salar de Atacama,” she explains.
Lucas Aguayo Araos/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
‘The lagoons here are smaller now. We’ve seen a decrease in the reproduction of flamingos’
Damage to flora has also been found in some areas. On property in the salt flats, mined by the Chilean company SQM, almost one-third of the native “algarrobo” (or carob) trees had started dying as early as 2013 due to the impacts of mining, according to a report published in 2022 by the US-based National Resources Defense Council.
But the issue extends beyond Chile too. In a report for the US-based National Resources Defense Council in 2022, James J. A. Blair, an assistant professor at California State Polytechnic University, wrote that lithium mining is “contributing to conditions of ecological exhaustion”, and “may decrease freshwater availability for flora and fauna as well as humans”.
He did, however, say that it is difficult to find “definitive” evidence on this topic.
Mitigating the damage
Environmental damage is of course inevitable when it comes to mining. “It’s hard to imagine any kind of mining that does not have a negative impact,” says Karen Smith Stegen, a political science professor in Germany, who studies the impacts of lithium mining across the world.
The issue is that mining companies can take steps to mitigate that damage. “What [mining companies] should have done from the very beginning was to involve these communities,” she says.
For example, before pumping lithium from underground, companies could carry out “social impact assessments” – reviews which take into account the broad impact their work will have on water, wildlife, and communities.
Getty Images
Extracting lithium involves pumping brine from beneath Chile’s salt flats to evaporation pools on the surface
For their part, mining companies now say they are listening. The Chilean firm SQM is one of the main players.
At one of their plants in Antofagasta, Valentín Barrera, Deputy Manager of Sustainability at SQM Lithium, says the firm is working closely with communities to “understand their concerns” and carrying out environmental impact assessments.
He feels strongly that in Chile and globally “we need more lithium for the energy transition.”
He adds that the firm is piloting new technologies. If successful, the idea is to roll these out in their Salar de Atacama plants.
These include both extracting lithium directly from brine, without evaporation pools, and technologies to capture evaporated water and re-inject it into the land.
“We are doing several pilots to understand which one works better in order to increase production but reduce at least 50% of the current brine extraction,” he said.
Ben Derico/BBC
Valentín Barrera says Chilean firm SQM understands concerns and is working with communities
He says the pilot in Antofagasta has recovered “more than one million cubic metres” of water. “Starting in 2031, we are going to start this transition.”
But the locals I spoke to are sceptical. “We believe the Salar de Atacama is like an experiment,” Faviola argues.
She says it’s unknown how the salt flats could “resist” this new technology and the reinjection of water and fears they are being used as a “natural laboratory.”
Sara Plaza, whose family also raised animals in the same community as Raquel, is anxious about the changes she has seen in her lifetime.
She remembers water levels dropping from as early as 2005 but says “the mining companies never stopped extracting.”
Ben Derico/BBC
‘The companies give the community a little money, but I’d prefer no money. I’d prefer to live off nature and have water to live’
Sara becomes tearful when she speaks about the future.
“The salt flats produce lithium, but one day it will end. Mining will end. And what are the people here going to do? Without water, without agriculture. What are they going to live on?”
“Maybe I won’t see it because of my age, but our children, our grandchildren will.”
She believes mining companies have extracted too much water from an ecosystem already struggling from climate change.
“It’s very painful,” she adds. “The companies give the community a little money, but I’d prefer no money.
“I’d prefer to live off nature and have water to live.”
The impact of water shortages
Sergio Cubillos is head of the association for the Peine community, where Sara and Raquel live.
He says Peine has been forced to change “our entire drinking water system, electrical system, water treatment system” because of water shortages.
“There is the issue of climate change, that it doesn’t rain anymore, but the main impact has been caused by extractive mining,” he says.
He says since it started in the 1980s, companies have extracted millions of cubic metres of water and brine – hundreds of litres per second.
“Decisions are made in Santiago, in the capital, very far from here,” he says.
Lucas Aguayo Araos/Anadolu via Getty Images
Chile is the world’s second-largest lithium producer, after Australia
He believes that if the President wants to fight climate change, like he said when he ran for office, he needs to involve “the indigenous people who have existed for millennia in these landscapes.”
Sergio understands that lithium is very important for transitioning to renewable energy but says his community should not be the “bargaining chip” in these developments.
His community has secured some economic benefits and oversight with companies but is worried about plans to ramp up production.
He says while seeking technologies to reduce the impact on water is welcome that “can’t be done sitting at a desk in Santiago, but rather here in the territory.”
Ben Derico/BBC
Sergio Cubillos says his community should not be a “bargaining chip”
Chile’s government stresses there has been “ongoing dialogue with indigenous communities” and they have been consulted over the new Codelco-SQM joint venture’s contracts to address concerns around water issues, new technologies and contributions to the communities.
It says increasing production capacity will be based on incorporating new technologies to minimise the environmental and social impact and that the high “value” of lithium due to its role in the global energy transition could provide “opportunities” for the country’s economic development.
Sergio though worries about their area being a “pilot project” and says if the impact of new technology is negative, “We will put all our strength into stopping the activity that could end with Peine being forgotten.”
A small part of a global dilemma
The Salar de Atacama is a case study for a global dilemma. Climate change is causing droughts and weather changes. But one of the world’s current solutions is – according to locals – exacerbating this.
There is a common argument from people who support lithium mining: that even if it damages the environment, it brings huge benefits via jobs and cash.
Daniel Jimenez, from lithium consultancy iLiMarkets, in Santiago, takes this argument a step further.
He claims that environmental damage has been exaggerated by communities who want a pay-out.
Lucas Aguayo Araos/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
What’s happening in the Salar de Atacama is a case study for a global dilemma – and debate
“This is about money,” he argues. “Companies have poured a lot of money into improving roads, schools – but the claims of communities really go back to the fact they want money.”
But Prof Stegen is unconvinced. “Mining companies always like to say, ‘There are more jobs, you’re going to get more money’,” she says.
“Well, that’s not particularly what a lot of indigenous communities want. It actually can be disruptive if it changes the structure of their own traditional economy [and] it affects their housing costs.
“The jobs are not the be all and end all for what these communities want.”
Ben Derico/BBC
‘Our sacred birds that are disappearing,’ says Faviola
In Chile, those I spoke to didn’t talk about wanting more money. Nor are they opposed to measures to tackle climate change. Their main question is why they are paying the price.
“I think for the cities maybe lithium is good,” Raquel says. “But it also harms us. We don’t live the life we used to live here.”
Faviola does not think electrifying alone is the solution to climate change.
“We all must reduce our emissions,” she says. “In developed countries like the US and Europe the energy expenditure of people is much greater than here in South America, among us indigenous people.”
“Who are the electric cars going to be for? Europeans, Americans, not us. Our carbon footprint is much smaller.”
“But it’s our water that’s being taken. Our sacred birds that are disappearing.”
Top image credit: Getty Images
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Caroline O’Brien parked in a layby near the main terminal building to avoid paying the drop-off charge
It’s a hot and sticky Friday in the middle of the summer holidays and cars are flooding onto Edinburgh Airport’s approach road.
There are few places to stop, but in almost every layby a steady stream of drivers await friends and loved ones touching down from their holidays.
They are all parked in a half-mile radius from the entrance to the terminal building in a bid to beat so-called “kiss-and-fly” charges in the official drop-off zone.
Research by the RAC, released this week, found that more than half of the country’s busiest airports have raised drop-off fees in the last 12 months.
A layby near a roundabout at Edinburgh Airport was almost full
Instead, drivers here look to beat the system, waiting in nooks and crannies along Eastfield Road for a message that their passengers have arrived.
They then drive a few hundred metres towards the Moxy or Hilton hotels and pick them up as they leave the airport complex, exiting hastily to avoid risking a fine for parking on double yellow lines.
Close to the Moxy, next to a farm gate by a grass verge, Caroline O’Brien, 52, is waiting in a layby for her husband and children after they returned from a holiday to Paris.
She says she had previously been charged £24 for under 30 minutes in the drop-off zone and decided not to take any chances this time.
“You don’t know if the plane is going to be early or late in and I don’t want them to be standing around,” she says.
“For pick-up and drop-off, I think a couple of pounds [would be fair]. You’re only there a few minutes for them to get their cases and then right back in the car and away again.”
The pickup and drop-off zone at Edinburgh Airport does not inform drivers about fees on their approach
Drivers approaching via Eastfield Road pass three roundabouts on the way into the main terminal, the closest of which leads them on to a one-way system which means they have to pass through the drop-off zone.
There is no signage on the approach to inform them of the charges, however there is when they are already inside the drop-off zone.
Drivers pay once they exit the drop-off area.
Edinburgh Airport is among those to have increased their prices in the last year
London Gatwick, Bristol, Leeds Bradford, Southampton and Stansted charged the top rate of £7 in the RAC survey.
Edinburgh is level with London Heathrow, Birmingham, Liverpool John Lennon and Glasgow in charging £6 for the initial drop off.
By contrast, at nine of the 10 busiest airports in the European Union there are no drop-off fees.
Rontom Tschopp, 32, from Switzerland, had just dropped a friend off at the terminal but was unaware there would be a charge for doing so.
Rontom Tschopp said there were no drop-off charges at his local airport in Switzerland
He says his local airport, in Basel, did not charge for the same service.
He says: “I was a bit flabbergasted to be honest, because we don’t have that in Switzerland.
“I think it creates a form of aversion to do the little things like drop off your friends. If I had known about the fees, we probably wouldn’t have had such a heartfelt goodbye, it would have been: ‘No, go now, there’s extra fees’.”
Sheila McPheely said the free drop-off zone was useful for some, but not those with mobility issues.
Edinburgh Airport does have other road links with the city centre through bus services, while the tram network also stops just outside.
It also has a free drop-off zone about half a mile (0.8km) from the main terminal building, across the tram line and near a car rental service.
Drivers can park there for 30 minutes free of charge, but it costs £10 up to an hour after that and £18 for between one and three hours.
Up another side street, near a vacant commercial business, Shiela McPheely is waiting to collect her sisters from their holiday in Albufeira in Portugal.
She says the cost of the drop-off zone is “appalling” and is planning to pick her sisters up at the free drop-off point, despite both having mobility issues.
“It’s just greedy. You pay enough for your flights and when you get in there, you get a tea or a coffee, so they are getting money from you that way,” Sheila, 79, says.
“There is a bit you can park in that is free, but that is all very well if you are young and fit, but one of my sisters has a sore back, the other one is waiting for a hip operation, so it’s difficult for them.”
Gavin Marshall said the charges were “extortionate”
Back inside the charged drop-off area, a multi-storey car park provides a roof and shade from the warm afternoon sun.
Gavin Marshall, 45, has been waiting for some time for his in-laws to arrive on a flight from London, before driving them back to Stirling.
He says he had not noticed the charge before he parked up.
He says: “It’s a bit extortionate, £1 per minute is a bit of a joke.”
“The flat £6 I think is fair, this £1 per minute seems a bit silly, it’s a bit much.”
Dean Carse said the charges made each journey £6 more expensive for customers in his taxi
Meanwhile, taxi driver Dean Carse, 31, says the charge has an impact on customers.
He says: “Every journey is £6 more expensive.
“I pay it, but I get it back off the customer, which is ridiculous, it goes from the customer to me to the airport.
“The airport spin it like they care about pollution, but they don’t. They’re a business and they want to make money.”
Edinburgh Airport declined to comment when contacted by BBC News, but said that a free drop-off area was available.
They added that passengers could choose whether to use the free or paid areas.
The industry body, Airports UK, said all hubs offered free drop-off options further from the terminals.
It said “park and ride” facilities where people can leave their car and take a bus to the airport were provided.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said it regularly gave “advice” to motorists in the airport complex, but was unable to be specific on what that was.
They added: “Where necessary, appropriate action will be taken.”
The IFSC Climbing World Cup Comunidad de Madrid 2025 concluded with two climbers celebrating their first-ever World Cup golds in the Lead discipline. Annie Sanders of the USA and Lee Dohyun of South Korea rose to the top of tightly contested finals, each securing the brightest medal with the slightest margin.
SANDERS CLIMBS INTO THE HISTORY BOOKS
Sanders claimed her first Lead World Cup victory with a commanding top on the final route, the only one of the round. As she clipped the final quickdraw, Sanders was visibly emotional, overwhelmed by a moment that marked a major milestone in her still very young career.
“I’m honestly still in shock right now, I’m super excited to have executed well enough to win the gold,” said Sanders at the end of the final. “I didn’t know what to expect at the beginning of the season, but after the first Lead World Cup in China I know I was capable of doing this, and I’m glad it finally happened.”
Laura Rogora of Italy followed in second place with a score of 48+, falling as she attempted to secure the final hold. The Italian repeated her silver-medal performance from Innsbruck, Austria, earlier this season. Brooke Raboutou of the USA matched Rogora’s high point, but placed third based on their semi-final ranking. It is Raboutou’s first World Cup podium since Villars 2023.
Just outside of the podium was Great Britain’s Erin McNeice in fourth place, followed by Manon Hily of France in fifth, and Rosa Rekar of Slovenia in sixth. The winner of last week’s Lead World Cup in Chamonix, France, Seo Chaehyun of South Korea, slipped early in the final and closed seventh, while Heloïse Doumont of Belgium placed eighth.
For the women’s Lead final complete results click here.
LEE CLAIMS GOLD IN DRAMATIC MEN’S FINAL
Coming from sixth place in the semi-final, South Korea’s Lee climbed the best final run of the night, winning his first World Cup gold in Lead with a score of 40+. In a tight battle for the top spot, Lee edged out Spain’s Alberto Ginés López by the smallest of margins: indeed, Ginés López finished with a score of 40 and stood within striking distance of his first-ever World Cup win in Lead.
“This feels unreal, I can’t believe it,” commented Lee, following his win. “I’m just happy!”
“When I finished my climb, I didn’t think it was worth a gold medal, I would have expected fourth or fifth. It was a good experience for me.
“At the end of the Boulder season I was a bit confused, I was disappointed in myself for my results in finals. I started thinking about how to improve myself, everyday, also in Lead, I tried and did my best. Now I’m happy.”
Despite the near miss, the Spanish climber earned his fifth podium in five Lead competitions this season and continues to lead the men’s Lead World Cup Ranking presented by Euroholds.
Yoshida Satone of Japan rounded out the podium in third with 39+. After placing first in the semi-final, the Japanese athlete added yet another strong result to his remarkably consistent season: he has not placed lower than fourth in any Lead event in 2025.
USA’s Colin Duffy closed with the same score as Yoshida, but placed fourth because of a lower placement in semi-final. Japan’s Anraky Sorato, Omata Shion, and Suzuki Neo all followed in fifth, sixth, and seventh position respectively. First-time finalist Jakub Konecny of Czechia closed in eighth.
For the men’s Lead final complete results click here.
NEXT UP
With Comunidad de Madrid 2025 wrapped up, the Lead World Cup season is now only one event away from awarding its season winners, and the appointment is in Koper, Slovenia, on 5 and 6 July. The next IFSC event in the calendar is the Youth World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, from 28 July to 3 August.
News and updates about the event will be available on the IFSC website and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Bilibili, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday met and appreciated Talha Ahmad, a young digital content creator, for his talent.
During a meeting, the prime minister lauded Talha Ahmad for his successful content at the digital platform, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.
In recognition of his talent, the prime minister awarded him with an honorary shield, besides giving away an electronic tablet.
The prime minister observed that young people, including children, in the country were proving their mettle worldwide and Talha Ahmad was one of such examples, possessing immense talent.
The mighty Oleksandr Usyk is, yet again, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world as he decisively defeated Daniel Dubois in the fifth round after a display as clinical as it was brutal. At the age of 38, Usyk outclassed and outfought his British rival, who is 11 years his junior, to establish himself definitively as the best heavyweight, so far, of the 21st century.
The end was as conclusive as it was crushing. A sharp combination set up an opening for Usyk’s crunching right hook. Dubois crumpled to the canvas then, bravely, he rose unsteadily to his feet. But the outcome had already been decided. Usyk moved in with shark-like speed and stealth. A shuddering overhand left detonated against the already listing head of Dubois who fell heavily to the canvas, his gumshield spitting helplessly from his mouth.
The referee began his count but even before he could reach 10 a white towel fluttered from Dubois’ corner. But the knockout was complete and the culmination of another masterclass by Usyk who, in only his eighth fight as a heavyweight, having moved up from cruiserweight, sealed his domination of boxing’s flagship division.
Usyk raised his arms high as Dubois managed the slow, bleak walk back to the refuge of his shocked team. The champion then sank down on his knees on the blue canvas, covering his face with the gloves as the magnitude of his brilliant performance sank in. Usyk has now regained the IBF title which boxing politics had taken from him and gifted to Dubois last year. That largely meaningless trinket joins the WBA, WBC and WBO baubles which Usyk already owns and restores his status as the unanimous king of the heavyweight division – a position he first achieved 14 months ago when beating Tyson Fury. Dubois joins both Fury and Anthony Joshua in having suffered successive defeats by the Ukrainian wizard.
Daniel Dubois on the canvas in the fifth round. Photograph: Richard Pelham/Getty Images
Before he left the dressing room to start the fight Dubois was embraced by his father, Stan, who has exerted such a controlling influence over his career while always predicting that he would one day become the dominant heavyweight on the planet. Usyk, however, awaited.
Dubois walked to the ring first as the words “It’s my redemption story” were emblazoned across the screens inside Wembley. By the time he reached the entrance to the arena he was moving at a fast lick, almost breaking into a little jog at one point, looking full of menacing intent. Dennis Brown’s old-school reggae classic, Want To Be No General, boomed around him.
At the first sight of the great Ukrainian, chants of “U-syk … U-syk … U-syk” reverberated around Wembley as he began his far more stately march to the ring. An eerie version of Ave Maria accompanied him. His face was etched in concentration and determination until, climbing over the ropes, he raised his right arm high. He was kissed and hugged by his cornermen just before the first bell.
Usyk landed the first jabs as he showed his readiness to match Dubois in an immediate desire to control the centre of the ring. Boxing out of his usual southpaw stance, Usyk snaked out his crisp right jab, clipping Dubois cleanly. But with 30 seconds left in the round Dubois backed up Usyk in his corner. Usyk recognised the danger and managed to ghost away and then detonate a hard left against Dubois’ head.
Oleksandr Usyk lands the knockout blow on Daniel Dubois. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images/Reuters
In the second round, sweat rolled down Dubois’ back as Usyk ducked under a scything right and snapped back his rival’s head with a beautiful straight left. Dubois’ corner urged him to impose himself and he closed the distance much more successfully in the third – only for Usyk, like a savage scientist, to nail him with punches as jolting as they were precise.
Usyk was locked in, watchful yet spiteful, as he made sprays of sweat fly from the shaven head of Dubois. He only grimaced when late in the fourth round Dubois landed to the body and Usyk made a slight gesture to indicate that it had been close to the beltline. But the decisive end was imminent.
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Victory for Usyk is another timely boost to Ukraine and proved once more that the boxer has the fighting aptitude to match his inspirational status in his beleaguered country. During the buildup to this fight, Usyk had spoken strongly against Vladimir Putin and invited Donald Trump to live in his house near Kyiv for one week so that the US president could finally understand the relentless brutality of the Russian onslaught
Daniel Dubois (left) and Oleksandr Usyk in action at Wembley. Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA
Dubois was an obviously more limited opponent in comparison with real life conflict but Usyk showed again that he is a master of the ring. There had been fevered speculation among Dubois’ backers that his relative youth, more imposing physical attributes and considerable power would be enough to result in the first defeat of Usyk’s decorated professional career – which also includes him becoming the undisputed cruiserweight champion of the world.
Dubois appeared to be booming with an ambition and conviction which meant he had left behind the callow and deeply reserved young man who had once been so awkward outside the ring. A run of three impressive wins, culminating in a knockout of Joshua in this same stadium last September, had apparently transformed Dubois.
But Usyk was simply too skilled, too smart and too seasoned for his younger rival. He remains the king of the hill, the most impressive man in boxing, and a symbol of soaring hope and searing defiance to Ukraine. The rest of us on a raucous night at Wembley are just lucky to have seen another burst of Usyk’s majesty.
Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk knocks out Daniel Dubois of United Kingdom to unify the heavyweight title belts in London.
Oleksandr Usyk has cemented his status as the outstanding heavyweight of his generation with an emphatic fifth-round knockout of Daniel Dubois in their undisputed world title bout at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Victory on Saturday saw Ukraine’s Usyk extend his unbeaten professional record to 24 fights as the WBA, WBC and WBO champion added his British opponent’s IBF belt to his collection.
Usyk dominated the opening four rounds and early in the fifth, dropped Dubois to the canvas.
Moments later, he finished the fight in decisive fashion after a trademark left hook left his British rival unable to beat the count one minute and 52 seconds into the round.
Oleksandr Usyk knocks down Daniel Dubois and wins the fight [Andrew Couldridge/Reuters]
It was the second time Usyk, at 38, some 11 years older than his opponent, had defeated Dubois after a ninth-round stoppage success in Krakow, Poland, in 2023, where the Briton was ruled to have landed an illegal low blow in the fifth round.
Lennox Lewis, the last British boxer to be the undisputed world champion in 1999, forecast before Saturday’s fight that Usyk would face a vastly-improved Dubois, saying: “Dubois was a baby in the sport and now he’s a man…You’re not going to see the same Daniel Dubois from 18 months ago.”
But after Usyk was roared into the ring by a huge contingent of supporters, many of them waving Ukraine’s national flag in a 90,000 capacity crowd at Wembley, best known as the London base of England’s national football team, it was largely one-way traffic as their hero conducted a ruthless masterclass against local favourite Dubois.
“Thirty-eight is a young guy, remember,” Usyk told DAZN in the ring after dropping to his knees in celebration. “Thirty-eight is only [the] start.
“I want to say thank you to Jesus Christ. I want to say thank you to my team and Wembley, thank you so much! It’s for the people.
“Nothing is next. It’s enough, next, I don’t know. I want to rest. My family, my wife, my children, I want to rest now. Two or three months, I want to just rest.”
The UK’s Daniel Dubois takes a punch from Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk towards the end of the fight [Adrian Dennis/AFP]
Asked about his next opponent, Usyk, who has already twice beaten former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, added: “Maybe it’s Tyson Fury.
“Maybe we have three choices, Derek Chisora and Anthony Joshua. Maybe Joseph Parker. Listen, I cannot now say because I want to go back home.”
Dubois insisted he would return to the ring, saying: “I have to commend him [Usyk] on the performance, I gave everything I had. Take no credit away from that man, I’ll be back.”
Daniel Dubois after being knocked down by Oleksandr Usyk [Richard Pelham/Getty Images]
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Lucas Aguayo Araos/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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Ben Derico/BBC
Lucas Aguayo Araos/Anadolu via Getty Images
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Lucas Aguayo Araos/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
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