Boxing 2023

[dave.woodhall]

Rory, did you tell him that Usyk is the WBA Super world champion and Dubois is their world champion?

[Rory]

Rory, did you tell him that Usyk is the WBA Super world champion and Dubois is their world champion?

Haha, no, that'll have to wait until I've drawn up the diagram!

[Smirker]

It's strange how little publicity a British heavyweight fighting the legitimate world champion is getting. Usyk late on is my prediction.

I was chatting with my Dad earlier, who is a very casual boxing fan (mainly the '70s heavyweights, but also the Eubank, Benn & Collins era). I mentioned maybe watching the fight on box office or whatever, and he seemed receptive, but then the conversation went roughly:

Him: "I thought Fury was the champ? How did this other bloke (Usyk) get three belts?"
Me: "He won them off Joshua."
Him: "So Joshua beat Fury?"
Me: "No, Fury and Joshua haven't fought."
Him: "Where did Fury get his belt?"
Me: "He beat Wilder."
Him: "Who?"
Me: "Deontay Wilder. American. He had one belt, which Fury took when he beat him."
Him: "...So Joshua beat Wilder before Fury beat him?"
Me: "No, Wilder and Joshua haven't fought."
Him: "So Wilder hasn't fought Usyk?"
Me: "No."
Him: "And Fury hasn't fought Usyk or Joshua, and Joshua hasn't fought Wilder."
Me: "Yes, but they're looking at lining up the Wilder/Joshua fight."
Him: "So the winner of that will be?..."
Me: "Erm, well, nothing, because the belts will still be held by Fury and Usyk - if Usyk wins."
Him: "Then the winner of Fury & Usyk will fight the winner of Wilder/Joshua?"
Me: "Well not necessarily, because Fury has another fight first, Usyk has to win tonight, but if those both happen, and if Joshua beats Wilder, Usyk has already beaten Joshua twice, so won't be interested, and if Wilder beats AJ, Fury has already won a trilogy against him, so won't want to bother with a fourth..."
Him: "Okay..."
Me: "Right, so-"
Him: "Oh bollocks to it, I don't care anymore."

😂 He's not wrong.

If anyone could point me in the direction of a small, river-like flow of water that'd be spiffing.

[tomd2103]

Didn't look low that.  Dubois doing OK here.

[Karlos96]

That was never a low blow this should be all over now.

[Villa Lew]

Dubois was robbed, punch was perfectly legal.

[edgysatsuma89]

Horse. Shit.

[Smirker]

Wrong decision maybe but no saying what would have happened had it been ruled as a knockdown. Usyk could have got up before the count and still won.

Who cares. Usyk 

[dave.woodhall]

No way in a million years would the referee let Dubois get away with that one.

[edgysatsuma89]

Okay I have mellowed on this now, some angles do make it look lower than I thought. I also didn't realise some rules (depending on your country) mention 'below the naval' being illegal. In reference to how high Usyk has his shorts someone said "what chest size are his shorts?" which amused me. Also yeah, Usyk probably would have beaten the count if there had been one, will never know for sure.

[tomd2103]

Okay I have mellowed on this now, some angles do make it look lower than I thought. I also didn't realise some rules (depending on your country) mention 'below the naval' being illegal. In reference to how high Usyk has his shorts someone said "what chest size are his shorts?" which amused me. Also yeah, Usyk probably would have beaten the count if there had been one, will never know for sure.

He was really struggling at that point though.  You could see he was breathing really hard and looked genuinely hurt.

[edgysatsuma89]

Okay I have mellowed on this now, some angles do make it look lower than I thought. I also didn't realise some rules (depending on your country) mention 'below the naval' being illegal. In reference to how high Usyk has his shorts someone said "what chest size are his shorts?" which amused me. Also yeah, Usyk probably would have beaten the count if there had been one, will never know for sure.

He was really struggling at that point though.  You could see he was breathing really hard and looked genuinely hurt.

Yeah he was definitely struggling and probably would have led to him being caught by another. I still don't agree with the decision and I'd be really pissed, as he is, if I was Dubois.

[Villa Lew]

While I still believe Dubois was robbed, I have to say I was disappointed how the fight finished, Dubois was kneeling on one knee, it appeared he was just waiting for the referee to count him out, as soon as the ref counted to 10, he got up.

[Rory]

Only just seen it. The low blow was a marginal but correct call, in my humble opinion.

It's not just the impact, it's the trajectory - that is coming up from below the belt, and look at the ripple in the shorts. It isn't just about whether it hit him in the gonads (clearly not) but where a fighter is expecting shots to come from, and that travelled upwards and still hit him below the belly button.

As Dave says, there was no way the ref was going to go with Dubois on any close calls, so don't give him the opportunity. An uppercut to the beltline from a taller fighter is never going to look good - due to the optics and the trajectory, it's going to look lower than it is.

Maybe Usyk dodged a knockdown and a 10-8 round, but Dubois was throwing shots to the beltline all night, and that one in particular was not a fight-winning shot, for me.

The idea that Dubois was robbed of the fight is based on one of two assumptions: that Usyk wouldn't have made the count, or; that he was so hurt, Dubois would've been able to get the stoppage in the ensuing couple of minutes.

Firstly, Usyk was not doubled-up in pain, and he is a calm fighter, so I think he saw the ref's signal and decided to take a breather. I think he would've made the count.

Secondly, Dubois did nothing for the remainder of that round. If Usyk was in as much trouble as people say, you don't shake off a serious gut shot that quickly, and Dubois showed no killer instinct.

A more interesting question for me is the actual stoppage, as mentioned by Villa Lew. It looked to me like Dubois was just too exhausted to continue.

I think there's a few sour grapes, to be perfectly honest, and suspect that if the rematch is ordered, Usyk will destroy him.

[dave.woodhall]

Ricky Burns stopped Willie Limond last night and announced his retirement. Now for Liam Smith doing the same to Chris Eubank jr.