Dubois ‘ought to be world champion’ as Usyk claims controversial KO win

Oleksandr Usyk stopped Daniel Dubois within the ninth spherical to retain his WBO, IBF and WBA heavyweight titles. However, he did so in controversial circumstances. In the fifth spherical, Usyk was despatched to the canvas by a low blow which divided opinions. The shot gave the impression to be borderline however Carl Frampton claims it was a authorized blow and insists Dubois ought to have been topped heavyweight champion with the 36-year-old needing a number of minutes to get well. “This was by no means a low blow and Usyk ought to have been counted out. Daniel Dubois ought to be world champion now,” said the former two-weight world champion.

Fight report

Usyk got into his rhythm early landing his jab to good effect and making Dubois miss and lunge recklessly as the Brit tried to impose himself on the contest. In the second round, the backhand began to come through as Usyk stepped in and caught the 25-year-old with a peach of a left hand from his southpaw stance that buckled Dubois’ knees.

Dubois, struggling with Usyk’s speed and dexterity, was always half a step behind ‘the Cat’ but when in there with a puncher like Dubois there was always the threat he could change the course of the fight with a big right-hand – although through three rounds it hadn’t found its target.

Usyk used his full defensive arsenal to evade Dubois’ thudding shots, catching and countering, slipping and jabbing. In the fourth round, sensing he was falling behind on the scorecards, Dubois came out more aggressive but wasn’t able to land anything meaningful.

In round five, a shot from Dubois strayed low as Usyk slumped over in agony. The Ukrainian made the most of his recovery time but when the action resumed he didn’t seem quite right.

Dubois didn’t take advantage of the situation and remained patient while Usyk backed up. But once he had got himself together again Usyk was back on the front foot and hurt Dubois with a big straight left. Dubois began to target the body in the sixth round and landed a couple of decent left hooks to the liver that made Usyk grimace.

In the second half of the contest, the 25-year-old appeared to be dealing with the pace much better and began to slowly edge himself back into the bout as he landed another good sweeping left to the stomach that caught the Ukrainian’s attention.

A sense of urgency was injected into Usyk’s work as he ramped up the intensity and let his hands fly. In the eighth stanza, Usyk came out looking for blood and dropped Dubois to his knee with a flurry of sharp shots.

Luckily for the Brit, the bell saved him but he was quickly back on unsteady legs again in the ninth as a left hook slumped him to the canvas where he was counted out. In the aftermath, Dubois cried out that he had been “cheated out of victory” after landing what he thought was a legal blow in the fifth while promoter Frank Warren insisted Queensbury would be appealing the result and declared that the referee had got it “horribly flawed”.