Oleksandr Usyk defeated Daniel Dubois of Great Britain in nine rounds to retain his unified heavyweight belts. Dubois' side plans to challenge the decisio
n and ask that the bout be declared a no contest or that a rematch be required.In his world title defense against Daniel Dubois, Oleksandr Usyk fiercely rejected the idea that the punch that knocked him out in the fifth round was a valid strike.Usyk, the WBA, WBO, and IBF champion, fell to the canvas as Dubois' right smacked into his beltline. Because the referee called the shot a low hit, he was granted ample of time to get up.
After that, Usyk twice knocked out Dubois, and his British opponent was declared out in the ninth round.
Frank Warren, the promoter of Dubois, plans to file an appeal and wants the fight to be declared a no contest or at the very least, that a rematch be mandated.
But the heavyweight champion for all time was unambiguous in his assessment. "You are not permitted to strike a man there. Listen, boxing is not a street battle; it is a gentleman's sport. "It's boxing," he clarified later.
"Sometimes it happens, you hit someone with an illegal blow, it's normal. When you keep doing this on purpose it means that you have some kind of dirty plan.
"Boxing is a pure art. It's a pure sport and it has to stay pure. That's why the guy has to deserve his rematch."
Usyk's team are still hoping for the undisputed heavyweight championship clash with Tyson Fury, who holds the WBC title.
Filip Hrgovic though is his next mandatory challenger and the Croatian has also been waiting his turn.
"Hrgovic is the mandatory but if we're going to get the unification [against Fury] we're going to go for the unification," Egis Klimas, Usyk's manager, said.
"If the unification is not done of course Hrgovic will be next."
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