Heavyweight contender Daniel Dubois wants “justice” after his knockout loss to unified world champion Oleksandr Usyk.
On Saturday night in Poland, Usyk knocked out Dubois in the ninth round to retain his IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO world titles.
There is a lot of controversy over a body shot, landed by Dubois, in the fifth round.
Dubois connected with a punch that immediately sent Usyk down in pain for several minutes.
The referee, Luis Pabon, ruled it as a low blow.
Several replays of the punch would create a mountain of controversy and confusion, because there were many observers who felt Dubois connected with a legal blow or a borderline shot. However, there were also many who felt the punch had strayed low and Pabon made the right call.
Now under the tutelage of veteran trainer Don Charles, the 25-year-old explains that he was working hard on landing that body shot throughout the entire training camp.
Dubois strongly believes that he was robbed of the heavyweight crown. He feels Usyk should have been counted out by the referee.
“This wrong needs to be corrected. This needs to go further, it needs to be pushed,” Dubois told BBC Sport’s Ade Adedoyin. “I should be a world champion right now. It wasn’t justice. It needs to be called out and go further than living this lie. They just cheated out there.
“I definitely want a rematch – get justice, get a rematch, get something to happen. We’ve been working in the gym for weeks and weeks on end on that shot. We pulled it off and that should have been our moment. That should have been a knockout. I’m feeling gutted. It wasn’t a low blow. I felt it land perfectly, smack into his stomach. I know for sure when I land a good shot.”