Eddie Hearn is ramping up the pressure on a world champion who must soon defend his belt in a huge all-British clash.
No boxer likes to be accused of quitting – the one thing they pride themselves on is their heart and going out on a shield is often something they feel they must do in order to win respect even if they are clearly losing a fight.
Quitting is an accusation that has followed Daniel Dubois around ever since he suffered his first defeat against Joe Joyce. The same was said when he went down and stayed down from a straight shot delivered by Oleksandr Usyk last summer after having the champion down with a shot of his own that was quickly ruled a low blow.
Speaking to talkSPORT Boxing, Hearn spoke on those performances up ahead of Dubois defending his IBF title against Anthony Joshua on September 21, praising his punch resistance but saying ‘he quit.’
“I think Dubois’ got a good chin. If you look at the Hrgovic fight, and I don’t think Hrgovic physically looked a specimen in that fight, he’s definitely a world-class heavyweight, he hit Dubois with everything and I don’t think he really hurt him in that fight.
The way Dubois has lost in the past, and I think all of these guys are incredibly brave, he quit, he quit against Joyce and he quit against Usyk. but he never got hurt. Against Usyk he took a jab, went down, took a knee, and didn’t really fancy it.”
Host Simon Jordan accused Joshua of quitting in his stoppage loss to Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019, saying it was not dissimilar to Dubois taking a knee due to ‘a shattered orbital bone’ against Joyce in their British title fight. Hearn disagreed entirely and even questioned reports of the injury.
“But did he [have a shattered orbital bone]? Really? What medical history?
I don’t think [Joshua quit], absolutely not, he kept getting up. When you quit, you take a knee, you look a referee in the eye as he says eight, nine, 10. Joshua got up every time. He went back to his corner, he tried to get time, and the ref looked at him and said you’ve been down four times, the fight over. When you get to your feet time and time again the last thing you’re doing is quitting.”
Joshua-Dubois will take place at Wembley Stadium in front of a record 96,000 people who will all be keen to see who has the bigger heart in this much-anticipated clash between two big punchers.
