26 August 2023 , 22:06
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Daniel Dubois floored Oleksandr Usyk with a body shot in their heavyweight world title fight - but the shot was deemed illegal.
Usyk had dominated the first four rounds of the mandatory defence of his three belts before Dubois sent him to the canvas in the fifth session. Usyk immediately grabbed his groin area and complained to the referee who allowed him to recover. But replays show Dubois' punch landed ON the belt - which means the shot was legal.
Should Usyk have been unable to continue, Dubois would have been crowned world champion - and fans took to Twitter to show their disgust. "That wasn’t low for me. On the belt," one said. Another added: "I just think that’s a good body shot."
Oleksandr Usyk holds his groin in pain (Getty Images)Former world champion Carl Frampton felt Dubois should have been declared the winner, saying: "This was never a low blow and Usyk should have been counted out. Daniel Dubois should be world champion now." Another former world champion, josh Taylor, added: "Dubois should be champion after that body shot, definitely wasn’t a low blow. Usyk didn’t like and took full advantage of the time given to recover."
Usyk eventually recovered and the fight resumed with Dubois himself put down at the end of the eighth round. He recovered but was dumped on the canvas again in the ninth round and failed to beat the referee's count. The fight was waved off as Usyk celebrated retaining his titles.
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Asked about the incident, Usyk said: "Boxing is a tough sport but I'm great. I love boxing and I respect my opponent but it's boxing, its a king's sport." He appeared to have a heated discussion with Dubois at the end of the fight and asked about his opponent's power, he dismissed the notion that the Brit hits hard, joking: "Only my balls".
A devastated Dubois said: "I didn't think that was a low bow, I think it landed and I've been cheated out of victory. I won tonight but I will have to come back." Dubois' promoter Frank Warren added: "He's been cheated, it hit him on the waistband. That's all he worked on in camp, to the body, we saw it as a weakness and the referee got it badly wrong. I like Usyk but that was a hometown decision. He won the fight because he was not fit to go on and they gave him a couple of minutes to recover from a legitimate shot."