Bob Arum has a clear view on whether or not British heavyweight Daniel Dubois quit in his first fight with Oleksandr Usyk as a rematch potentially looms.
The contest came back in August 2023 in Poland and Usyk’s three unified world titles were on the line.
In the fifth round, Dubois looked to upset the odds by sending the Ukrainian down to the canvas, but the shot was quickly ruled low, much to the chagrin of Dubois and his team.
After he recovered, unbeaten former gold medalist Usyk went on to drop Dubois at the end of the eighth and put him down again in the ninth from a stiff but not devastating shot. ‘DDD’ stayed on his knee past eight of the referee’s count before rising, giving him no choice but to wave it off. Many believe he lost confidence and took a way out.
Speaking to iFL TV around the time, veteran promoter Arum shared his view that the punch was low and that Dubois then lost heart.
“That was an illegal punch, maybe the referee gave him a little too long to recover. I watched it on television, it was a low blow. It seemed to me, Dubois, after throwing that low blow, he quit. Why he did, I don’t know.”
‘DDD’ was also accused of quitting during his fight with Joe Joyce, although at the point he took a knee and allowed himself to be counted out he had sustained heavy damage to his eye from Joyce’s jab. It is widely recognised that the injury was so severe that his fighting future hung in the balance of the decision to fight on or end it.
Since then he has proven beyond any doubt he has plenty of heart having taken some heavy fire but going on to stop the likes of Jarrell Miller, Fillip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua in his last three fights.
Now he is the IBF world champion and is on the cusp of a rematch with Usyk in what would be an undisputed showdown with an all-time great. However, a WBO mandatory order for Joseph Parker to face the Ukrainian has thrown a spanner in the works.
