Daniel Dubois suffered the second stoppage loss of his career this weekend in Poland, falling short in his unified world title challenge against Oleksandr Usyk.
After a cagey start from the Brit he managed to drop the champion with a shot on the beltline in round five. It was immediately ruled a low blow, something that is and will be debated for some time.
When Usyk had taken the time given to recover, he reassumed his role of the aggressor quickly, knocking Dubois down in the eighth and then doing the same one round later.
On that second shot – a clinical straight right hand from the southpaw stance – Dubois stayed on one knee until the referee had reached the count of nine. He stood and it was waved off for a Usyk win.
Outside of the low blow talk, some fans and fighters believe the ending was reminiscent of Dubois taking a knee against Joe Joyce in his first loss. Despite the serious damage to his eye in that fight, he was branded a ‘quitter’ by some in the sport.
Those same comments have come from some corners of the boxing world again, but Hall of Famer Carl Froch seems to disagree. On his YouTube channel, the former super-middleweight champion said Dubois was clearly hurt and tired.
“He come out in round nine and he got caught then with what looked like a jab. It was a power punch though, it wasn’t just a jab. He was stepping forward a bit and threw a really hard, ramrod like lead right hand.
He was hurt. His legs went, he stumbled and he went down to the ground. Now I’m reading a few bits saying that Dubois quit. Listen, Dubois probably saved himself for another day. He probably knew he was getting beat, he knew he wasn’t gonna win the fight, he was getting tired and Usyk we know is a strong finisher.”
Froch says the young Brit ‘did himself proud’ and reckons that he could be ‘the future of heavyweight boxing in Britain.’
As for the low blow controversy, Froch believes Usyk’s reaction was that of an illegal shot rather a fair body punch. He went on to call the argument that it’s not a low blow ‘ridiculous.’
Regardless of the above opinion, promoter Frank Warren has announced that he will lobby the WBA to overturn the result and call an immediate rematch.