LONDON, England — The controversy from their first fight sold the rematch but, in the end, it was all too much for Daniel Dubois.

The Brit heavyweight was knocked out by Oleksandr Usyk in the fifth round of their Wembley contest on a sobering Saturday night in the capital.

Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) became undisputed champion for the third time in his career — once at cruiserweight and twice at heavyweight. Dubois (22-3, 21 KOs) forced the pressure early on but, ultimately, Usyk was too slick, too smart and too good for the man 11 years his junior.

The end came after Dubois, who looked to have Usyk trapped on the ropes in an exchange, received a right hook to his temple, causing him to hit the canvas for the first time in the fight.

When Dubois rose to his feet, he instantly engaged Usyk in a swinging contest and caught a vicious, looping left hook which sent him down for a second time. Unable to answer the count of 10, referee Michael Griffin waved things off.

At the post-fight press conference, Frank Warren, who has promoted Dubois since his debut, says that there was more the IBF champion could have done to negate Usyk.

The 73-year-old said: "I think he could have [done more], when he was using his jab, he was letting his jab go and letting the right hand go, he was doing well, but he just stopped, he stopped in that round and he just dropped his hands, or he should have kept his hands tight, and he could have done with some more head movement.

"He takes from it that he's got to have head movement, you don't want to be knocked out, that's a fact of life, and when he got knocked down, he should've looked to the corner and picked up on the count and took his time, but it didn't happen."

Usyk was magnificent all evening and arguably registered his best performance as a heavyweight. The history-making win only added to his legend as a modern great.

Warren was full of praise for the way the Ukrainian conducted himself in the ring.

"He's something special, he's a special, special fighter," he said. "He's a good finisher, he's a very, very good finisher, he's a tough guy, he's hard as nails, he got caught with a couple of good shots himself, and Daniel now has to have a little break to think about things, and he's got to resurrect himself, that's what he'll have to do."

After Dubois lost to Usyk in their first fight in August 2023, the Londoner rebuilt himself and became a champion amid a three-fight knockout run of victories over Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua.

Two years later, Dubois finds himself in the same position again. And Warren believes he's more than capable of picking up the pieces for a second time.

"He's only a young man," Warren added. "It's not like he took a belting, as we say in the business. He got knocked down twice, and that was it. But, we'll see, it's all about resilience, it's all about desire and wanting to be the best, and more importantly, learning from your mistakes.

"That's what good fighters do. There's lots of fighters over the years who've been beaten and come back even stronger, and that's what he has to do.

"Daniel's obviously very disappointed in the dressing room at the moment. He's got to learn from it, he's only 27 years of age, look back at Frank Bruno, for example — three times he fought for the world title and he got it in the fourth attempt, and Daniel, he's won a world title, so hopefully he will come back and learn from it."