27 August 2023 , 12:47
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Tony Bellew has accused Daniel Dubois of quitting in his world heavyweight title fight with Oleksandr Usyk last night after being dropped in the ninth round.
The former cruiserweight world champion felt the wrath of Usyk himself in 2018 when the pair battled for the undisputed title, and feels that Dubois once again "spewed it", after previously retiring against Joe Joyce in 2020. That night he had suffered a gruesome eye injury that kept him out of action for seven months, but in Poland it appeared the punishment was less severe.
Dubois had dropped Usyk in the fifth with a controversial punch that was immediately ruled by referee Luis Pabon as below the belt. However, he and his promoter Frank Warren are preparing to launch an appeal as to how legal the shot was, and want the fight overruled to a no contest, or at least for a rematch to be ordered.
"Anything below the naval is classed as low in boxing!" Bellew wrote on Twitter. "That’s not my opinion that’s a FACT! That’s the rules! Your shorts shouldn’t cover your naval cos if they do the belt can be hit! This picture says a thousand words! Spew it once and you’ll spew it again is also another fact!"
After a tough scrap over the first seven, Dubois was dropped for the first time in the final 10 seconds of round eight when he was sent to the canvas with a big right hand. He managed to get back to his feet as the bell sounded but there was to be no respite for the Brit as Usyk charged in again and put him down again for the referee to wave the fight off in the ninth.
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He and Warren were enraged by the result, with Dubois telling fans he felt he was robbed of an historic victory. "I don't think that was a low blow," he said during an emotional post-fight interview. "I think that landed and I've been cheated out of victory tonight. What else can I say?"
Warren was even more annoyed, swearing on live TV before saying: "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."