Daniel Dubois claims he was “cheated” out of winning world heavyweight titles off Oleksandr Usyk
Daniel Dubois’ challenge for multiple world heavyweight titles ended in defeat to Oleksandr Usyk but left his promoter Frank Warren claiming that a “complete hometown decision” cost the South London challenger.
The moment of controversy came in the fifth round when Usyk went down from a body shot which was deemed to be low by referee Luis Pabon.
The Ukrainian – who holds the WBA, IBF and WBO belts – was afforded plenty of time to recover and stayed on the canvas. The former undisputed cruiserweight king was then granted extra time after regaining his feet.
Usyk never looked comfortable taking body shots and was wary of Dubois targeting that area as the contest went on.
But the champion put the Greenwich boxer down in the eighth, despite the fact that a flurry of punches did not seem to carry that much power or clean connection. Dubois only just beat Pabon’s count.
And the finish came in the ninth. Uysk landed a solid right jab from his southpaw stance and again Dubois took a knee to escape damage. Although he rose at nine, Pabon had seen enough and waved it over.
Dubois’ record drops to 19-2 (18KOs) with Usyk now 21-0 (14KOs).
“I didn’t think that was a low blow,” said Dubois. “I thought that landed and I’ve been cheated out of victory tonight. What else can I say? That was a win tonight. But you know what? I’ve got to come again.”
Warren added: “It hit him (Usyk) on the waistband. That is all he worked on in camp – working to the body, we see that as a weakness. He got caught and that referee got it badly wrong.
“If it’s a low blow, why didn’t he take points off of him? I like Usyk but that was a complete hometown decision. He (Dubois) won that fight, because he was not fit to go on. The ref gave him a couple of minutes to recover, I don’t know how long, from a legitimate shot.
“We all love Ukraine and how you (Usyk) are fighting for your country. But this is a boxing match and it should all be above board and it was not above board. That was not a low blow. It’s a total nonsense. The governing bodies will have to do something about it and order a rematch. How can you not order a rematch on the strength of that? He won it.”
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