Daniel Dubois hospitalized after loss to Joe Joyce
In a highly anticipated all-British Heavyweight showdown, Daniel Dubois (15-1, 14 KOs) suffered his first loss as a professional when he was stopped in ten rounds by fellow countryman Joe Joyce. Many were left puzzled about how the fight ended. Dubois went down from a jab to the eye and stayed on one knee for the full count without attempting to get up.
RELATED: Joe Joyce makes Daniel Dubois Quit! Calls Out Oleksandr Usyk!
It must be noted that Dubois was dealing with severe swelling over his left eye during much of the bout. However, that did not blunt the criticism from being hurled his way. Especially in light of the fact he was ahead on two of the three judges’ scorecards at the time of the stoppage.
Joyce accused Dubois of quitting during post-fight interviews. Former Junior Featherweight and Featherweight world champion Carl Frampton made the same accusation.
This sentiment was echoed by many fans afterward. The universal belief is that Dubois should have summoned the mental and physical strength to carry on.
THE CAUSE OF DUBOIS DISTRESS
So the question now begs, “what caused him to go down and not continue to fight?” We may now have some answers to what caused Dubois to essentially say no mas.
According to the BBC, the 23-year-old from London suffered a broken left orbital bone as well as nerve damage to his left eye. The injury was discovered when Dubois was taken to the hospital immediately after the fight.
For further context, this is the same type of injury former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook suffered against current IBF middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and current unified welterweight champion Errol Spence. These were back-to-back fights in late 2016 and early 2017 where Brook had retire due to the injuries.
THE REPUTATION OF DUBOIS NOW?
Will this change the opinion of Dubois now that it’s known he was fighting through an injury suffered in the fight? Well, that’s up to the individual observer.
On the other hand, we’re talking about a young kid who dealt with adversity for the first time in his career. Moving forward he must learn from this experience from both a physical and mental standpoint.
In this sport, it’s expected that you fight on until you cannot fight anymore. Given how many greats fought on with this injury in the past, that will probably cause many to not have a great deal of sympathy for him. To many, they feel that when Dubois was presented with a fight or flight situation, he decided to give up.
In November 2019, unified Bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue fought through a damaged eye socket during his win over Nonito Donaire. Three-division champion Kosei Tanaka suffered TWO broken orbital bones in a victory over Angel Acosta in May 2017.
It’s unknown at this time the severity of the break and the amount of nerve damage to his eye. More details will be provided on Dubois’ injury next week. Stay tuned to 3KingsBoxing for further updates.
By: Michael Wilson Jr.
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