Daniel Dubois claimed he was ‘cheated out of victory’ in his heavyweight world title fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
Usyk was awarded the win when referee Luis Pabon stopped the fight after the Ukrainian downed Dubois in the eighth and ninth round.
However, this came after Dubois had knocked Usyk to the floor with a heavy blow to the body in the fifth round.
The heavyweight champion was given a time-out to recover with Pabon deciding that Dubois’ strike had been ‘below the belt’.
TNT Sports Commentator Carl Frampton felt the decision was wrong and Dubois should have won the fight.
Oleksander Usyk was given time to recover after taking a heavy blow from Daniel Dubois in the fifth round of the heavyweight title fight
Dubois felt he was ‘cheated out of victory’ after being stopped in the ninth round
Dubois told TNT: ‘I didn’t think that was a low blow, I thought it landed and that I’ve been cheated out of victory. I’ve been cheated out of it tonight. I’ll come again.’
Promoter Frank Warren was in full agreement with Dubois, suggesting he would be launching an appeal against the referee’s decision.
He told TNT: ‘It wasn’t a low blow. I wish they could put it up on there now and we could all see it. They didn’t take any points off him.
‘I like Usyk, but that was a complete home decision. He was not fit to go on and they gave him a couple of minutes to recover. It should be straight and it should be above board. How long did he get to recover?
Promoter Frank Warren has demanded a rematch, saying the controversial hit was a ‘legitimate punch’
‘The governing bodies will have to look at that and order a rematch. We will order appeal what’s happened here. It’s all about a legitimate punch that stopped him and he should have won.
‘Everyone wants to see the unification. If Daniel had got the result then it would have been easy to do. We will see now.’
Warren wants the fight to be ruled a no contest and the rematch to be ordered ‘preferably in London’.
The promoter and Dubois trainer Don Charles accused the Ukrainian of ‘ cheating’ when the referee gave him almost four minutes to recover from the alleged low blow in the fifth round.