By Craig Daly: Promoter Frank Warren was absolutely livid over the low blow ruling by referee Luis Pabon from a waistline right hand punch from Daniel Dubois on IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night at the Wroclaw Arena in Poland.
Warren feels that it should have been ruled a legal punch to the body from Dubois, which would have resulted in Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) being knocked out in the fifth. Instead, referee Pabon gave Usyk five minutes to recover from the belt-line shot, and he came back to knockout the challenger Dubois in round nine.
Oleksandr Usyk and his team insist at the post-fight press conference that Daniel Dubois hit him with a low blow and not a body shot…
[🎥 @BoxingOnTNT] pic.twitter.com/WmIyyvHLN4
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) August 27, 2023
The air seemed to go out of Dubois’ game after the fifth, and Usyk came storming back to drop him with shots in round eight and nine.
Interestingly, the 6’5″ Dubois went down from what looked like a weak right hand jab from Usyk and was accounted out on one knee by Pabon in the ninth. It was the same Dubois was stopped in the tenth round three years ago by Joe Joyce in November 2020.
But in that fight, Dubois suffered a fractured orbital bone. It’s still too early to know if Dubois suffered a similar injury or any at all from the jab that went him down in the ninth.
Warren said he’s going to appeal the ruling on the low blow to try and get a rematch with Dubois.
“It looked like the solar plexuses in that photo,” said Gareth A. Davies to iFL TV about the shot that Daniel Dubois dropped Oleksandr Usyk with in round five, which was ruled a low blow by referee Luis Pabon.
“No, it doesn’t look illegal in that shot, but you know it looks like people catch a ball in cricket sometimes. That punch might have moved from down to up. It might have been the moment it was frozen. Look, Spencer Oliver doesn’t believe it was low.
“I was working with him. He knows the sport. Frank Warren has told me that they’re going to appeal the decision. Don Charles and Dereck Chisora both think VAR [instant replay] should be created for boxing.
“They’ve called for that tonight. Daniel Dubois was very disappointed in his performance. Dereck was disappointed in Daniel’s performance, I thought it was a fascinating fight. I thought Daniel was always in it.
That’s a low blow. #UsykDubois #boxing pic.twitter.com/WhvEdZgRQr
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) August 27, 2023
“They had the perfect game plan to go to Usyk’s body. He was clearly hurt at times. He clearly backed him off. I think he only won one round; Daniel in there.
“No, because the referee ruled it was a low blow. So it’s up to the referee to rule that,” said Gareth when asked if the fight should have been over in the fifth round when Usyk went down.
“We don’t know where he ruled the line in the dressing room. The referee has said he ruled that it was a low blow. I don’t know why he didn’t take a point off, though. That was odd, or even two because he was warned about four times for low blows.
“I thought three or four, obviously, in the heat of the battle. Well, there you go. So that’s their side of it. I’m not going to argue with them. The referee ruled it was a low blow. He gave him five minutes. Listen, he’s [Usyk] the home fighter. The referee’s probably influenced by 40,000 people here.
“We are where we are. They’re referees in home games in football. Yeah, you know that statistic where they tend to favor the home side with the decision because of the noise and all those things. Look, I’m not going to say Daniel Dubois was robbed tonight.
“I’m not going to say he was robbed because the referee made a decision based on his own findings. He’s the sole arbiter in there. Did you watch the replay, or did he make a split decision? So he made a split-moment decision about what he wanted to do.
“Luis Pabon is very experienced. He looked to control the fight very well tonight and so we just got to stick with that,” said Gareth.
“That’s what he’d been working on in the gym. He’s definitely weak to the body,” said Frank Warren to iFL TV about Oleksandr Usyk being fragile when it comes to taking body shots.
“AJ showed that when he caught him [Usyk] in the body. You could see it. He [Dubois] done better than AJ, even though he was on the floor [twice]. He went down. It was an exciting fight.
“I think Tyson is the best heavyweight in the world. He would have done the same thing,” said Warren when asked what Tyson Fury would have done to Usyk tonight.
“How long was he on the floor? Three minutes” said Warren about Usyk. “He was gone. He would have been counted out.
