‘I’ve been cheated out of victory’: Daniel Dubois on Usyk low blow, Frank Warren plans to appeal

Daniel Dubois was knocked out in the ninth round by Oleksandr Usyk in Poland, but the 25-year-old heavyweight contender says he feels he was cheated on a fifth round body shot that put Usyk down, only to be ruled a low blow.

Dubois (19-2, 18 KO) put Usyk (21-0, 14 KO) on the canvas with a right hand to the body, and referee Luis Pabon ruled it low. There is controversy here, with some feeling it was legal — obviously, Dubois and team among them — and some feeling that while not malicious and maybe Usyk “milked” the recovery, it did stray low.

“I think that landed and I’ve been cheated out of victory tonight. What else can I say?” Dubois said in his post-fight interview.

Promoter Frank Warren told talkSPORT he plans to appeal the loss:

“He won that, if he had been allowed to carry on, he would have won. We will appeal this. It’s a liberty.”

We’ll see if they actually decide to appeal, of course, but other than maybe wasting some time and money, not much bad can come of it for Dubois. They can say “no dice” and no rematch or whatever for Dubois, but that’s about it. There’s basically no chance of an over-turned decision, changing it to a no-contest, but they could try that, too, I suppose.

Do you think it’s worth an appeal?