By Jeff Aronow: Promoter Frank Warren has responded to Eddie Hearn’s comments earlier today about his doubts on heavyweight Daniel Dubois having suffered a fractured eye socket in his 10th round knockout loss, Joe Joyce, last Saturday night.
Hearn said it looked like plain swelling of Dubois’s left eye, not a case of him having suffered a fractured. He said that he didn’t see an x-ray posted on the injury, which some fighters post on social media to prove they were injured.
Warren, who promotes both Dubois (15-1, 14 KOs) and Joyce (12-0, 11 KOs), says DDD is seeing a specialist for his eye feature and nerve damage, and the report will be sent to the British Boxing Board of Control, not to Hearn.
Joyce, 35, pulled off a big upset in stopping the highly hyped heavy favorite Dubois in jabbing into submission. Throwing mostly jabs, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist Joyce closed Dubois’ left eye by the ninth, and he quit in the tenth after taking a knee after getting jabbed.
Hearn doesn’t need a copy of Dubois’ medical report
“Robert Smith of the British Boxing Board of Control is the one that is recommending a specialist see Daniel,” said Warren to IFL TV. “I don’t have to give, and nobody has got to give Eddie Hearn a copy of anything,” Warren said in creating to Hearn saying that he hadn’t seen a copy of Dubois x-rays and medical report to verify that he’d suffered a fractured eye socket.
“It’ll be sent to the board. He’s seeing a specialist because he’s got a fractured eye socket. Once he sees the specialist, it’ll be sent to the board.
If Daniel wants to share it with the people, that’s entirely up to him. He’s got a featured eye socket, and that’s why he’s been recommended by the board and by Robert Smith to go see a specific specialist.
“It was an exciting fight, wasn’t it?” said Warren about the Dubois vs. Joyce match. “Joe got his tactics right, he worked very hard, and obviously the key to it was his jab.
“The damage he inflicted on Daniel’s eye, and he kept working on it, and eventually, it was closed, and he was fighting with one eye. Joe did a tremendous job,” said Warren.
It’s unclear whether Hearn was intentionally pulling Warren’s chain by saying that he had doubts about the injury. How could Hearn know for sure that Dubois hadn’t suffered an eye injury just by looking at him?
The look on Hearn’s face when he was questioning Dubois’s injury was the look of a schoolboy having fun.
It wasn’t in Hearn’s best interest for Dubois to lose the fight, as he’s someone that would be a great future opponent for Anthony Joshua. He still can be, but it’s going to take a while for Dubois to come back from the defeat once his eye heals.
It would be a good idea for Dubois to steer clear of fighting Joyce again until he learns how to move his head and pick off his jabs.
Warren extended Joe Joyce’s contract
“That’s why we signed him and extended his contract before the fight, and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy him out of his contract with Richard Schaefer,” Warren said.
“He’s [Joyce] got a contract with us, and we renewed the contract when we made the fight [with Dubois]. The contract, we got quite a few fights to go on it. He’ll be out next year.
“We’ll be working very hard to give him the platform that he deserves after that fight. Before the fight, I said that I fancied Daniel to win the fight. I felt it would be a tough fight. And I didn’t think it would go the distance.
“I felt that it would be who can dominate with a jab. That was really important, and that’s how it turned out to be. He got his jab working really good, and he worked on Daniel’s eye. It was a close competitive fight.
“I don’t agree that he [Dubois] was out of his depth because there was nothing in the fight. Joe played to his strengths, and one of his strengths was the damage he inflicted on his eye,” said Warren.
It would be interesting to learn how many fights Joyce has on his contract with Warren and his Queensbury promotions.
If Dubois can get his hands on the WBO title next year by beating Oleksandr Usyk for the strap, he could be worth a lot of money if he were to leave Warren’t promotional company and signs with another promoter.
Dubois vs. Joyce rematch an option in the future
“It’s done brilliantly. We haven’t got the numbers yet, but we’ve delivered to the fans like we always do,” Warren said. “The winner [Joyce] has a great place to go, and the loser will come back and be involved with good fights.
“That’s where we’re at. If they want a rematch, we’ll do it. Obviously, it’s too soon for Daniel at the moment.
“Obviously, he’s got a fracture to his eye socket and nerve damage. I don’t know how long that’s going to take to heal. He’s seeing someone today. We’ll have more news on that.
“Down the road, the fans would like to see that. I would love to see that [Joyce vs. Dubois rematch]. Wouldn’t you? I mean, it was a great fight, and the tempo they fought at.
“The fight would have ended at the end of that round. I paid a lot of money to buy him [Joyce] out of his contract and put him in good fights. Ustinov, Bryant Jennings, is that not pushing him and kept him busy?
“It moved him up the rankings. He is where he’s at now, and he’s holding three belts for the fight we made for him.
“Yeah, a rematch would be good. I’m not saying immediately, but why not?” Warren said about a second clash between Dubois and Joyce.
Dubois should forget about trying to prove his doubters wrong in a rematch with Joyce and focus on facings guys that aren’t as big as him. He would stand a better chance against Joshua or Tyson Fury than in a rematch with Joyce because they don’t have the same granite chin.