Some in the sport are again claiming that Daniel Dubois quit in his rematch against Oleksandr Usyk, and now Lennox Lewis has weighed in on the subject.
These allegations have followed hard-hitting Dubois for some years now. The first time it was mentioned was following his stoppage loss to Joe Joyce back in 2022 in which the young heavyweight took a knee after ramrod jabs caused severe eye damage. It was later accepted by most that fighting on could have cut his career short.
The second time was in 2023, the first fight with Usyk, when he was put down with a hard jab and missed the count on one knee. Many believe the Ukrainian broke the Brit’s heart by rallying so well after being down himself, albeit after what was ruled to be a low blow.
Then came this past weekend, which say Usyk largely dominate their second meeting for before dropping ‘DDD’ twice in the fifth. After rising the first time, Dubois got to his knee on nine for the second count but saw the fight waved off before walking back to his corner.
Lewis, who was the undisputed heavyweight ruler in 1999 and twice had to overcome shock KO losses to win in rematches, replied to suggestions by former super middleweight Paul Smith that the Brit quit, pointing out that nobody but Dubois knows but seeming to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“It’s easy to say or think what Dubois could have done in the moment, but you’re not in his head knowing what his senses are. I’ve been knocked down twice in my career, the second time probably wasn’t even the hardest I’d ever been hit… but for some reason, it shook everything up.
“In that moment, you have 10 seconds to make sense of it all and recover. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can’t. It’s just part of the sport… but also why it makes it so exciting.”
Dubois has come back strong from losses before and proven he has what it takes to compete at world level. He must now rest, recover, and do that once again, as many believe he is more than capable of being a two-time world champion.
