Daniel Dubois and his team are formally attempting to overturn the 9th round KO loss to Oleksandr Usyk on August 26th. The knockout loss followed a controversial moment in the 5th round where a disputable low blow by Dubois seemingly felled Usyk and allegedly could have led to Dubois winning the fight if his shot hadn’t been counted as an illegal blow.
The WBA confirmed an appeal was formally launched on September 6th, acknowledging that they would review the appeal and make a decision regarding the appeal at an undefined date and time.
A day earlier, on September 5th, Daniel Dubois’ (19-2, 18 KO’s) promoter Frank Warren confirmed he had formally appealed to the WBA to overturn the Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KO’s) result on the same day, according to BBC Sport.
Boxing has so far seen little to no results overturned unless there was a case of a positive drug test or anything of that nature. If the WBA decides to overturn the result, however, Daniel Dubois could be named the WBA world champion instead of Usyk, thereby effectively stripping Oleksandr Usyk of one of his WBA titles.
There is also the chance the WBA may order a rematch to occur between the two fighters if the appeal to overturn the result fails, though it is unknown whether this decision can overturn the mandate of another sanctioning body for Usyk to fight their mandatory challenger.
In a scenario where Usyk would lose his title, he would still be in possession of the WBO and IBF heavyweight titles and remain a unified champion.
Team Dubois had previously been adamant that Dubois’ low blow shouldn’t have been counted as they deemed it a legal punch, as apparent through separate interviews conducted with both Dubois and his coach, and Frank Warren himself.
Their arguments centered around the referee making the wrong decision by ruling what they saw as a body shot an illegal blow instead. The referee responsible for this decision, Luis Pabo, notably made a similar decision in Usyk’s previous match when he fought Anthony Joshua (26-3, 23 KO’s) on August 20th, 2022.
