Dubois changes perceptions and muscles onto the top table of heavyweights. He wants Usyk next

Tyson Fury looked as stunned as everyone else inside Wembley Stadium after witnessing Daniel Dubois dismantle Anthony Joshua in the latest shake-up of boxing’s heavyweight division.

Except Fury had other things on his mind.

“Listen, that’s cost me 150 million,” Fury, scratching his head, shouted to a friend at ringside on Saturday night.

Maybe Fury vs. Joshua — the long-awaited heavyweight fight that boxing’s new overlords in Saudi Arabia had reportedly been planning — might never happen.

Instead, it’s Dubois, another British fighter, who has muscled his way onto the sport’s top table.

Given his age, he could be there to stay.

The 27-year-old Dubois might have the boxing world at his feet after a brutal fifth-round knockout of Joshua that not only legitimized his status as the IBF titleholder but made plenty sit up and take notice.

That included Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, currently the two major powers among the heavyweights who are preparing for a rematch in Saudi in December and were seen joking around at ringside on Saturday. Usyk won their first fight in May to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 2000, but vacated his IBF belt in June.

The wider plan was for Joshua to take on Fury — reportedly there was an agreement on a double-header for the sum Fury was talking about — or to fight Usyk for a third time, having already lost twice to the Ukrainian.

Now Joshua, outclassed by Dubois, looks to be out of the picture. Dubois is the main in waiting.

As for a potential Fury-Dubois fight, Frank Warren — the British promoter who represents both boxers — said that would put him in a “very, very awkward position.”

“It’s not something I would push for,” Warren said. “If there’s an offer made that makes a lot of sense, then that’s up to them.”

More likely, then, is a rematch between Dubois and Usyk, especially if Usyk beats Fury. That would put all belts on the table for another fight for the title of undisputed.

Usyk stopped Dubois in the ninth round when they fought in Poland in August last year, but only after controversially getting time to recover from what was adjudged a low blow by Dubois in the fifth round.

It sent Usyk to the canvas, where he sat against the ropes. Replays showed the punch hitting around Usyk’s belt and Dubois still maintains he was robbed.

“I want to get my rematch,” Dubois said of Usyk, "and put the wrong right.”

There’s video of Usyk and Dubois talking in the ring after their fight in Wroclaw, with Usyk telling his beaten challenger: “Daniel, you young. You can. You can dream.”

Still, Usyk said after the Dubois-Joshua fight that he thought Joshua would win on Saturday.

“For me, it’s a surprise,” said the Ukrainian.

Uysk said he was only thinking about “Tyson Fury and the fight and of my family and preparation” when asked if he wanted to take on Dubois again.

Fury, it seems, has money on his mind, too.

If he loses to Usyk, Fury could still fight Joshua in what would be billed as a grudge match, but it wouldn’t be so appealing and there would be no belts on the line for two fighters now in their mid-to-late 30s.

Joshua’s reputation has been seriously damaged by the way he was beaten up by Dubois, though the guy who has been a walking marketing phenomenon for the past 10 years wants to fight on.

He might never, however, get another chance to become a three-time heavyweight champion and emulate the likes of Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis.

Instead, the baton undoubtedly has been passed to Dubois.

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

FILE - Ukraine's Oleksandr Usyk, right, lands a blow on Britain's Daniel Dubois during their world heavyweight title fight at Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, Poland, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, file)

Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk in the stands with his belt at Wembley Stadium, in London, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Bradley Collyer/PA via AP)

Anthony Joshua, left, and Daniel Dubois, fight in the IBF World Heavyweight bout at Wembley Stadium, in London, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Bradley Collyer/PA via AP)

Daniel Dubois celebrates victory against Anthony Joshua, not pictured, in the IBF World Heavyweight bout at Wembley Stadium, in London, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Bradley Collyer/PA via AP)

Daniel Dubois celebrates victory against Anthony Joshua, not pictured, in the IBF World Heavyweight bout at Wembley Stadium, in London, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Bradley Collyer/PA via AP)

Daniel Dubois, center, celebrates victory against Anthony Joshua, not pictured, in the IBF World Heavyweight bout at Wembley Stadium, in London, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Bradley Collyer/PA via AP)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Marxist politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake was sworn in as Sri Lanka's president on Monday after an election that saw voters reject an old guard accused of leading the country into economic crisis.

Dissanayake, 55, who ran as head of the Marxist-leaning National People's Power coalition, defeated President Ranil Wickremesinghe, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and 35 other candidates in Saturday's election.

The election came as the country seeks to recover from a severe economic crisis that led to shortages of essentials such as foods, medicines, cooking gas and fuel in 2022, triggering massive protests that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign.

In a brief speech after the swearing-in, Dissanayake pledged to work with others to take on the country's challenges.

“We have deeply understood that we are going to get a challenging country," Dissanayake said. “We don’t believe that a government, a single party or an individual would be able to resolve this deep crisis.

He’s the ninth person to hold Sri Lanka’s powerful executive presidency, created in 1978 when a new constitution expanded the office’s powers.

Dissanayake's coalition is led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, or People’s Liberation Front, a Marxist party that waged two unsuccessful armed insurrections in the 1970s and 1980s to capture power through socialist revolution. After its defeat, the JVP entered democratic politics in 1994 and has been mostly in opposition since then. However, they have supported several previous presidents and been part of governments briefly.

The NPP also includes groups representing academics, civil society movements, artists, lawyers and students.

Just before the swearing in, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena resigned, clearing the way for the new president to appoint a prime minister and a cabinet.

Chinese president Xi Jinping congratulated Dissanayake on his victory, saying on Monday that China looks forward to working together “to jointly carry forward our traditional friendship.” The U.S. and India previously congratulated Dissanayake.

Dissanayake was first elected to Parliament in 2000 and briefly held the portfolio of agriculture and irrigation minister under President Chandrika Kumaratunga. He ran for president for the first time in 2019 and lost to Rajapaksa.

Dissanayake's first major challenge will be to act on his campaign promise to ease the crushing austerity measures imposed by his predecessor Wickremesinghe under a relief agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

Wickremesinghe has warned that any move to alter the basics of the agreement could delay the release of a fourth tranche of nearly $3 billion.

That economic crisis resulted from excessive borrowing to fund projects that did not generate revenue, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the government’s insistence on using scarce foreign reserves to prop up its currency, the rupee.

Marxist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, right, is sworn in as Sri Lanka's tenth president by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, left at the Sri Lankan President's Office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept.23, 2024. President's secretary Saman Ekanayake is in center. (Sri Lankan President's Office via AP)

Commanders of the security forces stand behind as Sri Lanka's new president Anura Kumara Dissanayake, addresses a gathering after he was sworn in at the Sri Lankan President's Office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept.23, 2024. (Sri Lankan President's Office via AP)

Supporters of Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake cheer outside the president's office as he arrives to be sworn in as Sri Lanka’s tenth president in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A supporter waves Sri Lankan flag as he waits for the swearing in ceremony of president elect Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake out side president's office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Newspapers with headlines about Sri Lanka's new president elect Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake are on display in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A supporter tucks a portrait of president elect Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake on to his trousers as he waits for the swearing in ceremony outside president's office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Newspapers with headlines about the new president elect Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake are on display in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Supporters of Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake cheer outside the president's office as he arrives to be sworn in as Sri Lanka’s tenth president in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake waves as he departs the election commission office after winning the presidential election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)