LONDON (AP) — Daniel Dubois' trainer has accused Oleksandr Usyk of conning the referee the first time the two heavyweights squared off.
Usyk and Dubois will fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship on July 19 at Wembley Stadium in a rematch of their August 2023 bout — won by Usyk in a ninth-round stoppage — that included a controversial low blow.
It was halted in the fifth round for what the referee ruled a low blow by Dubois that sent Usyk to the canvas, with replays showing the punch hitting around the Ukrainian’s belt. It was not given as a knockdown, no points were deducted from Dubois, and Usyk was given time to recover.
“You should be given an Oscar for the performance,” Don Charles, Dubois’ trainer, said at a news conference Tuesday. “You conned the referee, you conned us, you conned the boxing world.”
The 38-year-old Usyk holds the WBA, WBC and WBO belts and is undefeated as a pro. Dubois, a 27-year-old London native, is the IBF champion.
The low blow remained the talking point Tuesday, when Usyk got up and asked Dubois to sign photos that allegedly showed punches below the belt from their first fight. Dubois smiled and complied.
“Why don’t you print one of those .. of the actual shot that had you trembling,” Charles said.
Usyk was unfazed by the criticism.
“You must teach your fighter to punch clean. But I win this fight,” he said.
Usyk relinquished the IBF title when he chose to fight in a rematch against Tyson Fury in December. He won that bout in Saudi Arabia, like he did their first fight last May, the first fight for the undisputed championship since 2000.
Dubois knocked out Anthony Joshua in his first bout as IBF champ last September in front of 96,000 fans at Wembley.
“I’m on fire now,” Dubois said Tuesday. “It's going to be a bloodbath. I'm going to just put all the controversy and all of that nonsense to rest and show that I'm the man of the future.”
AP boxing: https://apnews.com/hub/boxing
FILE - Ukraine's boxer Oleksandr Usyk smiles at a press conference after winning his fight against Britain's boxer Tyson Fury for the WBA, WBO, and WBC heavyweight title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein, file)
FILE - Britain's Daniel Dubois poses for the cameras after taking part in a boxing workout at the BT Sport studios, QEII Olympic Park in London, Nov. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Ian Walton, File)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A state appeals court is being asked to dismiss felony voter misconduct charges against an Alaska resident born in American Samoa, one of numerous cases that have drawn attention to the complex citizenship status of people born in the U.S. territory.
In arguments Thursday, attorneys for Tupe Smith plan to ask the Alaska Court of Appeals in Anchorage to reverse a lower court's decision that let stand the indictment brought against her. Her supporters say she made an innocent mistake that does not merit charges, but the state contends Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship.
Prosecutors also have brought charges against 10 other people from American Samoa in the small Alaska community of Whittier, including Smith’s husband and her mother-in-law. American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship by being born on American soil and instead are considered U.S. nationals. Paths to citizenship exist, such as naturalization, though that process can be expensive and cumbersome.
American Samoans can serve in the military, obtain U.S. passports and vote in elections in American Samoa, but they cannot hold public office in the U.S. or participate in most U.S. elections.
About 25 people gathered on a snowy street outside the courthouse before Thursday's hearing to support Smith. One woman, Fran Seager of Palmer, held a sign that said, “Support our Samoans. They are US nationals.”
Smith's husband, Michael Pese, thanked the American Samoa community in the Anchorage area. “If it wasn’t for you guys, I wouldn’t be strong enough to face this head on,” he said.
State Sen. Forrest Dunbar, a Democrat who attended the rally, said the Alaska Department of Law has limited resources.
“We should be going after people who are genuine criminals, who are violent criminals, or at least have the intent to deceive,” he said. “I do not think it is a good use of our limited state resources to go after these hardworking, taxpaying Alaskans who are not criminals.”
Smith was arrested after winning election to a regional school board in 2023. She said she relied on erroneous information from local election officials when she identified herself as a U.S. citizen on voter registration forms.
In a court filing in 2024, one of her previous attorneys said that when Smith answered questions from the Alaska state trooper who arrested her, she said she was aware that she could not vote in presidential elections but was “unaware of any other restrictions on her ability to vote.”
Smith said she marks herself as a U.S. national on paperwork. But when there was no such option on voter registration forms, she was told by city representatives that it was appropriate to mark U.S. citizen, according to the filing.
Smith “exercised what she believed was her right to vote in a local election. She did so without any intent to mislead or deceive anyone,” her current attorneys said in a filing in September. “Her belief that U.S. nationals may vote in local elections, which was supported by advice from City of Whittier election officials, was simply mistaken.”
The state has said Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship. Prosecutors pointed to the language on the voter application forms she filled out in 2020 and 2022, which explicitly said that if the applicant was not at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen, “do not complete this form, as you are not eligible to vote.”
The counts Smith was indicted on “did not have anything to do with her belief in her ability to vote in certain elections; rather they concerned the straightforward question of whether or not Smith intentionally and falsely swore she was a United States citizen,” Kayla Doyle, an assistant attorney general, said in court filings last year.
One of Smith's attorneys, Neil Weare, co-founder of the Washington-based Right to Democracy Project, said by email last week that if the appeals court lets stand the indictment, Alaska will be “the only state to our knowledge with such a low bar for felony voter fraud.”
Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.
Michael Pese and his wife, Tupe Smith, stand outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter fraud case brought against her by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
Michael Pese, left, his wife, Tupe Smith, and their son Maximus pose for a photo outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter fraud case brought against her by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
FILE - Tupe Smith poses for a photo outside the school in Whittier, Alaska, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
