Daniel Dubois accused of 'two illegal punches' before Anthony Joshua KO
Anthony Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn has accused Daniel Dubois of taking illegal shots against his fighter before knocking him out.
Eddie Hearn has levelled accusations against Daniel Dubois, saying he took two illegal shots in his fight with Anthony Joshua.
Despite being knocked out in the fifth round by Dubois, Hearn pointed out moments where Dynamite seemed to overstep, specifically alleging that Joshua was hit "in the nuts" during the third or fourth rounds of the bout which took place on Saturday night.
He voiced his frustration at Joshua for not utilising the full recovery time available but gave due recognition to Dubois for a commanding victory.
Hearn reflected on Joshua's resilience post-knockout: "I said to him you've got to be proud you even found a way back into the fight because after the second round, for me the fight's done, it's over.
"Even the last knockout, he's scrambling to get up."
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The Matchroom head honcho added: "He couldn't have tried another inch. When you do that you can look yourself in the mirror. He went all the way in the trenches. People want to take about taking a knee, spitting a gum shield out."
Additionally, Hearn expressed that the unfortunate low blows might have stemmed from an experience gap, saying: "Listen, when Daniel Dubois hit him in the nuts in the third or fourth round, I'm screaming at AJ to take the full five minutes.
"That's actually a bit of inexperience. At that point when he couldn't stand up, he's been hit full blown in the conkers.
"He said to the ref 'I'm fine, let's go' and I'm like 'what are doing? ' Then it happened again. He just came to fight tonight. It was a hell of fight. As gutted as we are, Daniel deserves a lot of credit."
"Tonight is his crowning night. Not being elevated to interim champion, tonight is the night he showed he is a true world champion. He's got a big future ahead of him as well.
"Of course I still want to continue fighting. We took a shot at success and came up short. Are we going to run away now or live to fight another day? I'm a warrior. Always walk with your head up high.
"We rolled the dice. That's 13 world title fights, not all of them have been successful but they've all been fun and entertaining. We want to create history for British boxing and I think we are doing that."
