British heavyweight prospect Daniel Dubois has revelaed why he believes he was knocked down three times in the first round of his fight against South Africa’s Kevin Lerena on Saturday night.
Dubois and Lerena went toe-to-toe on the Tyson Fury vs Derek Chisora undercard, with Dubois securing a third-round knockout victory.
However, despite the early stoppage, the fight was far more difficult for Dubois than it may appear upon first glance. The 25-year-old was knocked down three times in the first round of the fight and it appeared that a serious upset was on the cards, but the knockout artist recovered quickly and got the stoppage soon after.
In an interview with Queensbury Promotions, Dubois admitted that he didn’t really feel ‘on it’ in the first round and said it could have been down to a poor warm-up.
“I think my knee went, or something like that. I got caught quite high on my head and then after that I thought ‘where is this shot coming from?’ because I didn’t see it and then the knee went. I recovered quickly and got my senses back together.”
“To be honest, in the first round, I don’t think I was on it really. I was there, but I weren’t really there in my mind. When I got knocked down, I got back up like ‘right, I am in a fight’, I was awake then, it was strange.”
“For sure we’ve got to get this knee checked out and then work on warming up properly, being lively and fiery because I worked really hard for this fight, maybe the warm-up let me down a bit. I’ll come back stronger and I’ll come back properly on it next time.”
Despite a concerning opening round, Dubois made a successful first defence of his WBA Regular world title and subsequently clung on to a potential position as the mandatory challenger for the WBA belt.
This gives Dubois strong negotiating power over numerous rumoured opponents as he continues to call out Joe Joyce, the only man he has lost to, for a rematch.