The WBA said Thursday it found no evidence the referee made an error when he ruled a fifth-round punch was a low blow during the champion’s ninth-round knockout victory heavyweight fight Oleksandr Usyk vs. Daniel Dubois in August in Wroclaw, Poland.
The organization rejected Dubois’ appeal to overturn the result after his ringside supervisor determined that referee Luis Pabon “made the correct decision regarding the punch he considered an accidental low blow.” .
Usyk fell to the canvas writhing in pain after England’s Dubois connected with a right hand that appeared to land below the belt. Dubois later claimed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it was a legal punch and that his victory had been stolen.
Ukrainian Usyk had enough time to recover – the maximum allowed is five minutes – and routed Dubois in dominant fashion. The champion floored Dubois in the eighth round, then finished him with a jab in the next round.
Dubois was the WBA’s mandatory challenger. He was also a challenge to Usyk’s WBO and IBF titles.
Usyk, ESPN’s No. 3 pound-for-pound boxer, is set to face Tyson Fury for the undisputed heavyweight championship this winter in Saudi Arabia. The fight is tentatively scheduled for December 23 but will not have a set date until Fury meets Francis Ngannou on October 28 on ESPN+ PPV.
