Carl Froch has again addressed the question as to whether or not Daniel Dubois quit in his world title fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
Dubois, in some people’s eyes, has a track record of taking the easy way out of big fights. He first decided to be counted out by the referee back in 2020 when he faced Joe Joyce. That came after sustained damage done to his eye socket from Joyce’s ram-rob jab, but Duvois rebuilt well and came through tough moments to get knockout victories that led him to a first fight with Usyk in August 2023.
In the 10th round, it was a jab that put him down and Dubois opted to stay down, with many suggesting he had his heart broken by Usyk, who had rallied well after being down himself early in the fight, although that was from what was ruled a low blow.
When the pair rematched this past weekend, Dubois was put down and out in the fifth with a much heavier shot, but still appeared to have all of his senses while the count unfolded.
Speaking on his Froch on Fighting channel, former super-middleweight world champion Froch was asked if Dubois quit and he didn’t hold back, after initially stating after the fight that he didn’t think ‘DDD’ had quit.
“Yes, of course he quit. When he went down the second time, and he got caught with a good shot by the way, on reflection, looking at it back the second time, the first time I saw it I thought he was done, rendered unconscious, out and gone.
“I’ve watched it back since and I didn’t realise he was down and he was sort of conscious. He wasn’t out cold. He was compos mentis, he was looking at his corner, he could see the referee quite clearly in front of him. He was looking at him and looking at the corner.
“You’ve got to get up and convince the referee you want to carry on fighting. This is an undisputed heavyweight title fight. He may never get this chance again. Why the f**k would you sit it out. In my world you don’t sit it out.”
Dubois has previously rebuilt well after losses and showed he has true grit in the ring, and now he must do so again if he is ever to get back to world level.
