WBC reaches verdict on Dubois' scandalous punch in fight with Usyk

Mauricio Sulaiman, President of the World Boxing Council (WBC), expressed regret that only his organisation uses video replays during fights. This is how the official reacted to Daniel Dubois' (19-2, 18 KOs) forbidden punch to Oleksandr Usyk's (21-0, 14 KOs) stomach in the fifth round of the fight on 26 August.

Suleiman's statement was published on the page of the Ukrainian WBC office on Instagram. He agreed that Dubois struck below the belt, and the referee did the right thing by giving our compatriot time to recover.

"In Poland, Oleksandr Usyk, who is the WBO, IBF and WBA world champion in the super-heavyweight category, defended his titles against the British Daniel Dubois. In the fifth round, Du Bois struck Usyk with a punch that hit him squarely in the waistband of his boxing shorts, which is an obvious 'below the belt' punch, after which Usyk fell to the ring floor. Unfortunately, only the WBC uses the rule of instant video replay, which was not applied in this case," Suleiman said.

Earlier, the World Boxing Association (WBA) issued an official statement on the scandalous moment. Du Bois' team intends to seek recognition of the fight with Usyk as a nullity.

As a reminder, the Usyk-Dubois fight ended in the 9th round when the Briton missed a heavy punch to the head. In total, Daniel missed 88 punches to the body and head from the Ukrainian. The Ukrainian himself reacted sharply to those who justified Daniel for the punch to the groin.

Usyk was unable to contain his emotions during the press conference after he was accused of wearing his shorts too high. It is worth noting that Vasyl Lomachenko also commented on the outcome of the Usyk-Dubois fight, but he did so in a very laconic manner and in Russian.

Russian boxer Dmitry Kudryashov ridiculed the Briton for refusing to continue the fight with the Ukrainian. He also added that Usyk should thank the referee for his success. Russian promoter Vladimir Khryunov called Oleksandr a coward after the fight.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, Daniel Dubois was suspended from boxing after his defeat by Oleksandr Usyk. Kateryna Usyk's reaction to the British boxer's blows was also published online. The media also deciphered what the Ukrainian said to the Briton after the fight.

Only verified information is available on our Obozrevatel Telegram channel, Threads and Viber. Don't fall for fakes!