‘The decision of the fight stands’: WBA denies Daniel Dubois’ appeal on low blow call against Oleksandr Usyk

Daniel Dubois’ bid to overturn his stoppage loss at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk has been denied by the WBA. Dubois’ fight against Usyk turned out to be a bit debatable after over a fifth round body shot put Usyk down, but that punch was immediately ruled a low blow by referee Luis Pabon, allowing Usyk five full minutes to recover.

Dubois and some other observers believed that the punch was on the belt line and a legal blow, and therefore think he should’ve won that fight by stoppage. As it so happened, however, as the fight was allowed to continue it would be Dubois that was ultimately stopped, and following the fight Dubois and his promoter filed a formal appeal over what happened earlier. The WBA reaffirmed the result of the fight was correct in a written statement.

“After studying all the documents, the conclusions of all the instances and the internal rules of the WBA, it was determined that the appeal does not proceed and the decision of the fight stands with the victory and defence of the champion Usyk.”

This won’t be a surprising outcome for most, and Oleksandr Usyk gets to move on with his career without a mandated rematch or overturning of his last outing.